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**NEW UPDATE**
Starting October 2009, group classes, private lessons, and consultations will all be held at
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25 August 2009 ~ Where to find us
It has become increasingly more simple to keep my facebook updated, rather than to update this AND that.
http://www.facebook.com/emilyksnider
Just put that I referred you from my website in your friend request, and I'll be sure to approve you.
I'll still try to post some photos and big updates here, but for the most up-to-date info, see my facebook account!!
23 May 2009 ~ Summer Training Sessions
Public Service Reminder from Josie:
Make sure to keep your training sessions short and mix in lots of breaks and fun to keep spirits up and temperature down!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7Jszuv8bAU
21 May 2009 ~ Josie's 1st Trip to the Water Park
Reason #684 to have dogs instead of kids: Free Water Parks!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtC2a7Z-7qo
10 May 2009 ~ Mother's Day Fun!
We spent our evening at the training field playing frisbee -- the Smoothie Snider Sisters had a fabulous time!
How GROWN UP does Felicity look!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CEd2nMFEdY
Josie also has a special way of enjoying everything in life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hildcJTEc8
6 May 2009 ~ A Snakey Warning
We ran across a LARGE number of snakes at our usual park this morning. The rain over the last week must have flushed them out. We managed to spend a large number of hours at the same place on Monday (with not a single snake spotting), for Ivie's 8th birthday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4Yezf3WjE
Then, today, we were not as lucky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHQmmNWayN0
Madison would like to take this opportunity to warn you all to get your rattlesnake vaccines for your dogs, carry some sort of anti-snake weaponry when walking in nature for the next while, and, above all...leave your terriers at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (okay, so the last part came from me, not her, but you get the message)
22 April 2009 ~ Sweet Sisters
Sweetest thing ever!
Fil is laying at the end of my bed. Josie went and laid next to her and starting sniffing her. Found her paw pads that are all raw and started licking them. How sweet of her!! Awe!!!
14 April 2009 ~ A couple of Fillie Viddies
Felicity's first time with the frisbee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYm6vYSbvso
First time on a teeter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5CSAIYYBh8
Hopefully these will satiate those asking me for more Fillie videos :)
13 April 2009 ~ ADCH-Bronze LAA Bronze Josefin!!
Josie earned Standard leg #15 first thing Saturday morning under judge Mark Wirant, with a 1st place finish to boot. What a great way to start the weekend :)
The ADCH-Bronze run is the first one in this video. Yay Josie :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2bkdyFwgnM
I also had the great pleasure of running Scott Brannan's sheltie Haven all weekend. We had some GREAT runs with just one little thing wrong. Then we pulled it all together and smoked Jumpers on Sunday afternoon. I love Haven -- she gave me a run for my money!! :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhtFjLOSTuE
5 April 2009 ~ MAddie "The Brat" is Home!
THANKS for the calls and offers to help. After spending a couple hours looking for her, she has been returned home!!!
Some kid picked her up this afternoon. Then he and his mom decided that since she did tricks (sit, rollover, etc) they wouldn't just let her go (as was their initial inclination) but would try and locate the owner. I took Josie and Fillie to the DAWG property about 3:00 this afternoon. When I returned home at 5:30, she was nowhere to be found. There is no other explanation besides she just slipped past my feet as I was loading Josie/Fillie into the car to go to the field. There aren't any trees for her to climb, or holes in the fence, so, she must have just slipped out undetected.
Edie was driving, I was yelling Maddie's name, and we randomly asked this guy in the middle of this industrial park, an empty parking lot, if he'd seen a little white dog. He proceeded to describe Maddie in perfect detail, right down to her favourite trick (rollover), the small brown spots on her back, and her docked tail. OMG, it's Maddie!!!
We followed him to his sister's house (which was very far away!!) where we recovered a happy, smiling, licking Maddie!
What a naughty girl she is. !!
I think I need a glass of wine now. Talk about scary. !!!
In all the years of off leash hiking I've done with the little twerp, the one time she actually goes missing is when she doesn't have a collar on because she's supposed to be AT HOME!!!! Ugh.
Such is life with a JRT.
I'm going to curl up with her on the couch now, and let her remember why she doesn't want to pull another stunt like that -- she's got it good here!! :o)
THANKS AGAIN, everyone!! (Special thanks to Edie for helping me find her, and having the good thought to randomly drive down the empty parking lot, her husband for also looking, Denise for searching my neighbourhood for me, Diane and Jamie for being on the ready to come and help look, and EA for posting to the list for me...and anyone else I might be forgetting, I'm very sorry -- I'm still coming down off the adrenaline rush of finding her again...!!)
2 April 2009 ~ Felicity's 1st Frisbee Play (plus teething stuff)
A montage of some of my favourite photos from her first session of frisbee play
(I realize she looks like she's FLYING through the air in smoe of these shots, but it's the camera angle doing most of the effects. She does WAY overjump ANYthing I throw, but she's not 5feet in the air or anything. The camera's in my lap. Makes for great photos, but probably also great lectures from those that do not see that I DO NOT make Fil' jump like this...she does this for things rolling on the ground...you'll see!! :o) She was born with springs in her legs -- maybe she's part JRT. Hah!!!)
I had never tried to play frisbee with Fillie before, but decided on a sunny April afternoon that it sounded like fun. I had no sooner brought the frisbee out that she was trying to snatch it from my hand, just to mouth it a second and put it back in my hand to throw. She seemed to known what to do with the frisbee without any help from me. She's a natural!
She was heavily teething this day, and I found four teeth of hers in a 24hr period -- 4 molars! Her poor little canines have not even finished growing in yet, so now all she's left with is adult front teeth and baby molars in the very back. The poor dear! I have switched her from Innova to ground raw for now. We'll see how she does on it, and if it agrees with her, I'll just make it her permanent transition and everyone can get back on raw food! In anticipation of this, I got all excited and stocked up at the Mexican grocery ;-)
I could tell when she was about to lose another tooth while we were playing frisbee because she'd bring the yellow frisbee back and it'd have a bit of blood on it. I'd look in her mouth, and sure enough, there was another one dangling by a thread! She'd start pawing at her face relentlessly, so I'd assist in getting the dangler out. Then she was off like a light -- no recovery time needed, hah!
Fillie's really a very fun little dog. She's totally full steam ahead about life and she's more and more fun to be around every single day. She's just a really neat girl. Love ya, Fil'!
(The following are some of the other shots taken during her first frisbee session...consider yourself warned that there are bloody teething pictures ahead!!)
This is what happens when you mix teething and frisbee-play!
I wish she was more in the frame on this one, but I still love it -- & it shows just how much she over jumps!!
*sproing*
Queen of the Frisbee
Look, no teeth on this side either!
She makes being about 1' off the ground look pretty spectacular! Goofball :)
Josie, rounding Fil' up, and bringing her in. I love this shot; both of them looking out of the corner of their eyes and all :)
(I just let Josie out into the back with us for the last few minutes of the play session, for some photo ops...it was just me and Fil' the rest of the time.)
The culprits.
Red Kool-Aid, that's all, really!
She has since lost her upper molars, too. I don't know what prompted the mass exodus of teeth, but I hope the new ones are ready to grow in. The poor dear can't even get her usual crate cookies!
31 March 2009 ~ Bluebonnets 2009
30 March 209 ~ Happy Birthday, Josie!!
It's truly hard to believe my bestest Josie turned 3 today. WHERE has the time gone?! We have definitely enjoyed ourselves.
I put together a little video as sort of a recap of her time as a 2 year old. We sure did enjoy this last year together -- here's to enjoying many, many more!!!
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OXtape4PMA
For her birthday, we went to the park with my good friend Edie and her cattle dogs...and Edie's wonderful camera ;-)
We took some lovely bluebonnet pictures...
& then I let Josie do what Josie does best........get really dirty!!!
Leave it to Josie to dive into the mud hole...!!!
On the way home from the park she even got her traditional ice cream cone!
Nom nom nom nom nom *brain freeze* nom nom nom
(the look in her eyes in this one cracks me up -- so intense!! -- as if the ice cream might get away or something....hah!!)
30 March 2009 ~ Video Bombardment
As requested, a video of Josie's "special" behaviour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD8hKW5iZBA (just for you, EE!)
Josie's SCARY tire crash at the DDS USDAA show in March :( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyh0jQ0b4Uo
Ivie's bad DW approach, resulting in injury, DAWG AKC in March :( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zGZs0vXxPU
Josie, DGF USDAA 19-22 March 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbU_YLGrR3E
Ivie, random AKC runs, February 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ_Alnf0VKY
Josie, random AKC runs, February 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sKe4tG-Qzs
Josie, DDS USDAA, March 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOrl7XllxUI
3 dogs at the beach (long): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLmTi-kC17E
Josie, Stuart Mah Camp, February 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi1qUAfnG9I
My girls at the park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-Ty_F1KEw
Fun with Veggie Snacks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cT3DyldzkA
30 March 2009 ~ Happiness is...
....a tired puppy!!
I'm happy to report Felicity has found an off switch! It only took her until she was 4mo to find it. No biggie ;-)
It's been so beautiful outside we've been hiking every day for a few days in a row now.
This evening it's all she can do to fight the sleep. She'll get up, walk around in a sort of sleepy daze, the FLOP back down on the rug in here in the living room and go back to sleep. Josie's put herself to sleep under the dining room table on that rug, Ivie is of course on the hard wood floor next to my feet at the couch, and Maddie's on the fluffy blanket on top of the squishy ottoman. All is right in my world. 4 exhausted dogs, and lots of tv to catch up on since I didn't watch any the last few days for being busy elsewhere!!
20 March 2009 ~ Friday Trial Report
Today was also a very good day!!
The morning started off with a bang with Josie getting a 1st & Q in Jumpers to finish up her JCH-Bronze title (15 Masters Jumpers Q's)!!!
Josie also took a 1st & SuperQ in Snooker!! She only needs 2 more now for Gold. What a superstar :o)
Steeplechase was next and with a missed AF (so sad!!), she came in 3rd & Q. Yay Monkey!!
Masters Gamblers was another 1st & Q for us, and we finished the day off with a 3rd place (fastest time, missed DW) in Standard.
Josie's my little monkey and we're having a lot of fun together, me just concentrating on her runs all weekend and all. She takes well to that :)
After the show this evening, we spent over 2 hours hiking behind the show site and playing frisbee with the dogs in the field outside the arena. Tally was so tired her tongue was nearly hitting the ground and she is now pooped! Instead of fetching, Secret spent her time playing a rousing game of chase with my friend's little BC/ACD (looks like a squatty version of Fillie). They are both pretty exhauster. Secret's not too tired to steal Fil's rawhide chewie and then guard it from her, though! ;-)
That's all for today -- besides Standard, a perfect day! (&, truly, it was a BEAUTIFUL run, fastest of all dogs, just missed the DW by a hair, came off to the side *sigh*). GREAT stuff overall!! So proud of hte monkster!
19 March 2009 ~ Fillie is 16" tall
Day 1 went well for us :)
Before I get into how we did today, I'll tell you a little about how we got here...
At 1am Wed night/Thurs morning I realized I was not tired enough to be able to go to sleep and wake back up at 5am to drive to College Station for the show, which is what I would have had to do to make it here on time for the show. So I hopped in the shower, packed up the girls (save Ivie), and got on the road probably sometime around 2:30am. Thanks to Kathy for calling me when she was on her way to work to keep me awake on the last leg of my drive!
I got to the show site about 5:45am...set up the crates and stuff inside, put Secret and Tally in (as they would NOT quit barking at every.little.noise when we were all trying to sleep in the car!) crates inside, curled up in the backseat with Josie, and snoozed from about 6:15 to 8:15 when the cars around me started pulling in and making noise.
The show started at 9am, and finished at 2pm. 5 runs in 5 hours -- wow!! Now that's efficient!! The classes weren't "tiny", either. Not HUGE by any means, but certainly larger than when we were in FL, and FAR more efficient -- !!
Josie won Masters Gamblers this morning (shocker!), and also earned a Pairs Q with Jack & Annie. She took a bar in Standard, we messed up at #2 in in the closing in Snooker, and I got so lost in Jumpers it was sad! In my defense, Jumpers was the last class of the day and I was WAY tired by that point. Two hours does not a rested Emily make.
Went to the grovery, picked up some snacky snacks for the rest of the weekend, and proceeded to nap from about 4-9pm. I swear, my sleep schedule is so screwed up :-P Eventually I'll come back around to the working world's way of doing the sleeping thing.
There were a bunch of pigs, cows, and sheep outside the arena today. I took Fil over there and she barked at them. hah :) Tally & Secret were scared.to.death of them. !! HILarious!!
Tally is a bed hog. I finally had to throw her onto the other bed and tell her to "STAY!!" to keep her from getting back onto my bed. I'm all about sharing, but when I gently poke you with my foot, you need to M-O-V-E!! Tally and Secret are both currently passed out on their sides, all spread out, on the second bed in the room. Sweet Josefin is laying next to me (she's NOT a bed hog!) and Fil's in her crate, as if left out, she and Secret would still be playing. At 2:30am. No lie.
Wish us luck tomorrow -- we need 2 Standards and a Jumpers for ADCH-Bronze/LAA-Bronze. Have good DW thoughts for us, pleasethanks :)
Madison is happy at Camp Oreo with Denise and her pack and Edie's taking extra special care of my Ivernators for me :)
I keep trying to fast forward the tv in the hotel room. TiVo becomes a way of life.
23 February 2009 ~ Short, Fun Videos
Josie Exercising Self Control in the hotel room in Pensacola, FL & Josie & Fillie play non-stop in the crate
22 February 2009 ~ Felicity in the field
Some shots taken on a sunny afternoon at the trial site. We left Dallas and Felicity was but a wee little Fledgling Fetcher. She came home from Florida as a Fetching Fiend!! She's a perfect little fetcher now -- I'm so proud!! Josie just showed her the ropes, and she picked it up in no time! What a star!
In other news, Fillie has started teething. She lost her two bottom front teeth over the weekend. It was earlier in the day on which I took these photos that I first noticed the blood on her tongue. Then the next day she was missing a couple teeth. My little girlie's growing up! She was 15.25" at the withers at the show this weekend, too. Tall girlie!!
How precious is she??
"Seriously, ma...throw the ball already."
There's that grin!! :o)
Poor Josie...no matter how big the ball, Fillie always finds a way to steal it!
She's plotting as they run...
...& then...
...she gets it!
& she holds onto it with a death-grip! :-)
"Me? Naughty?? Never!! I'm too cute for naughty!!"
Floppy Teething Ear :)
Big Sister Josie, watching her handiwork as Felicity feverishly fetches away :o)
21 February 2009 ~ Travellin' Girlies
Photos of my sweet, white, smoothie girls in various hotel rooms on our Florida trip this past week. They had a great time and love each other :)
Josie says "I'm so embarassed. I love the puppy -- it's shameful!"
"It's not shameful to love me -- it's impossible not to! I mean, really, could I BE any cuter?"
"Get this thing OFFA ME!!!!"
Josie watches Fil' try and free herself from the evil plush bug!
It was only entertaining for so long...
SUCCESS!!!!!
"A little privacy, please?"
20 February 2009 ~ Stuart Mah Seminar
The first in a series of the photos that I took on the trip. These are photos from Stuart's place, Josie and Jet at the seminar.
This is Josie and her male Twinkie, Pati Mah's "Jet". Their facial markings are spot-on!!
This is the perch from which Josie supervised the seminar ;o)
Another couple of Jet -- I just love this dog, he's totally cool!!
8 February 2009 ~ Fillie is 14.75" tall
OMG, half an inch in a week? She's growing like a weed!!
4 February 2009 ~ Fillie weighed 15.4lbs at her check-up today
3 February 2009 ~ Good Ambassadors
On Tuesday afternoon, I took all the girlies up to the park we frequent on most sunny days. We did our usual 90-120min walk (I kinda lose track of time when I don't have a schedule to abide by...), and then I sat at the top of the hill near the car and played Chuck-it with the border collies. Maddie went into her crate after the walk because she's a social butterfly and that close to the houses/road/paved walking paths she'd just get herself into trouble trying to go up and say hi to every human being walking by. (She's special like that, you know!)
So, I'm sitting there throwing the balls for the girlies, and cracking up at Fillie carrying an orange Chuck-It ball around in her itty bitty little mouth. I noticed these grandparents and their two granddaughters standing about 30 feet back, watching and laughing at the dogs. I had heard them there for a few minutes before turning around and inviting them to come and pet the dogs. What a great opportunity for puppy socialization to kids! :)
Josie had a child-induced scare when she was about 9mo, and really could never see another child and be perfectly happy. She's really not keen on them being around when she's on-lead and can't escape, but off-lead, and near agility, or a park with a ball, and she sees kids as ball-throwing-machines because they never stop. As long as she'll take them the ball, they'll throw it, or so has been her experience in the past.
The younger girl, Ellie, seemed to be about 3 or so. She didn't talk a whole lot, and wasn't real stable on her feet, but she could throw the ball a few feet, and Ivie was good with that ;-) The older girl, Eva, was scared shitless of the dogs, all of them. I brought Ivie up to them first because Ivie universally loves ALL children. Don't know why, she just does! Unfortunately she likes to show her love in the way of licking, and Eva was sure she was trying to eat her. So the grandma took little Ellie off to my side and they threw the ball with Ivie (after Ellie gave Fillie LOTS of hugs...it was so funny 'cause she couldn't even pronounce the word "hug" quite right!).
The grandpa was, like, seriously pissed about Eva being afraid of the dog. He was like "You obviously need a dog!!" He said he was a real animal-lover, but they just didn't have any right now. But that after seeing how Eva was, he'd be sure to try and get them a dog. Fillie was totally non-plussed by the children (so far she's rather bomb-proof, though the biggest.greatdane.ever was at the park the other day and she barked at him -- hilarious!), so finally, with much coaxing, Eva decided she would live to tell about it if she pet her.
Then I asked her if she wanted to throw the ball for Josie, who was standing there all "why does Ivie get her own ball-throwing-child and I don't get one??", and she finally decided the slobber on the ball wouldn't burn her hand. She LIT UP as Josie flitted off and caught the ball on a bounce. "AGAIN!!!" she cried. Okay, GAME ON, I thought to myself. :) Sure enough, Eva couldn't get enough of throwing the ball for Josie (who's universally awesome to play fetch with because she gently puts her mouth near your hand and waits for you to touch the ball before releasing, unlike Ivie who kinda tosses it at you and just hopes you catch it).
The grandparents were finally like "okay, Eva, we need to go see the ducks in the pond before it gets dark!!" so I put Josie in a down to convince Eva that she was tired and needed a little break. I just turned my back for a split second as they were walking away, though, and there goes Josie, off to get Eva to throw the ball again! Traitor ;-)
I think it's so important for the little ones in society to learn how to behave around dogs. As much screaming, climbing on her granddad, and retreating at the slightest movement from the dog, as Eva did in the beginning would have made less well socialized dogs freak out. Children that live with dogs seem to be able to relate to them better and know how to act so as not to 'egg on' an already stressed out dog, or simply rile up a would-be calm dog.
This has been a public service announcement from my dogs. If you are ever out and about and you see kids that look like they might want to pet your dogs, but have reservations, try and make it a positive experience for everyone invovled. Josie might not universally adore children, but I know as long as there's a ball out and the child might potentially throw it, that's all she cares about in the world. She now sees little people as a tennis player sees a tennis ball launcher!
Here they come!!!
Look at me, Ma, No feet!!
Puppy Perfection!!
I didn't steal it, I swear -- I earned it fair & square.
The better to hear you with, my pretty...
Point of View
They're just not right in the head...that water's COLD.
It should be illegal to be this cute.
1 February 2009 ~ Fillie is 14.25" tall
31 January 2009 ~ Another Great Adventure (&, Fillie turned 12wks old today!)
This weekend was met with another local show up in McKinney. Felicity, Josefin, Ivie and I all packed up and headed to the arena bright & early Saturday morning (okay, so maybe more like I got there just in the nick of time to walk it a couple times -- details!). Fillie has been to an agility trial each of the last three weekends of her life, and every single weekend since she's been a Texan. She was definitely more full of herself than I've ever seen her at the show today!!
After reading through part of Ian Dunbar's "after you get your puppy" writing, I decided I really need to be more upfront and ask men/children to interact with Fillie when we're out & about, and especially when we're at agility trials. She's universally friendly to everyone and I don't want that to ever change. This is actually quiet easy to accomplish since there are children as ring crew all the time at our local shows! Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Honor Students, etc. Today, a young girl (8-ish?) came up to me and asked if she could pet my puppy. Certainly!! I then remembered what Ian Dunbar had said about getting children to give the puppy commands (showing the puppy that he/she must work for and respect children as adults), and gave the girl a few pieces of dry treats that I had in my pocket (I find people are much more apt to enjoy giving your puppy treats if their hands don't smell icky afterwards!). As soon as Fillie saw the girl had treats she went straight into "work-mode". I was tickled pink to see this from a 12wk old pup! She offered a sit when the girl asked for it (wow!!), then went straight into "what can I do to get that treat??" clicker-mode. She folded into a down, started doing her back-flips and funny flops...it was precious!! I was so glad to see her working for someone else, and a little person at that! What a gem!! The girl then played tuggie with Fillie and a tuggie leash and Fil was in heaven -- she is a tugging maniac, I tell you.
Fillie also made fast friends with all the dogs at the trial that would give her the time of day -- !! I'm here to tell you, she's a spitfire!! She wrestled and played with any and every dog that would pay attention to her. She even got away from me a time or two and pestered poor unsuspecting dogs! You know you're in trouble when your 12wk old pup can manage to wriggle away and be naughty!!
She's undeniably silly and she I think she makes all my friends laugh nearly as much as she makes me laugh -- and that's a lot!!! She certainly keeps things interesting around here and I'm beginning to forget what it was like before she came. I had been leaving her x-pened into my master bathroom when I was gone for a few hours at a time and didn't want to leave her cooped up in her [soft] crate in my bedroom. Twice yesterday I opened my bedroom door and she had escaped and was just hangin' out in my bedroom. Good to know she's reliable and can be trusted, but talk about giving me a heart attack - !! Both times I went around and inspected power cords, furniture legs, everything. I'm happy to report all she did was just enjoy her newfound freedom, and she left her chewing to the plethora of toys she was left with. *phew*
I will admit that I don't work on her with a leash much. I'm just not a leash kinda person, really. Such is life; I've come to accept it :) The only time she's really been on lead at all has been at the trials on the weekends. Even on our long walks through nature she might be on a leash for a couple minutes if we're passing some people I don't want her barging up to, but normally we're pretty alone on our walks and consequently she's as leash-free as my other girlies 95% of the time. The first weekend she was totally put off by the leash. Last weekend she was better but still stuck her butt in the ground and refused to move a time or two. This weekend the only time she acted like a nerd on-leash was when she hit the cold concrete floor near the concession area. I cannot for the life of me figure this out. She also doesn't like the flooring in my garage. Perhaps she had a bad experience as a tiny thing? I'm hoping this gets better -- weird floor phobias can be just downright silly!!
Not only was she totally into playing with the other dogs at the show, but she was totally into ME and totally into watching the dogs playing agility in the ring. She would stand with her paws up on the ring gate and watch from as close as she could get. The real exciting ones she'd let out a few barks for. She was totally in tune with their every movement on course, moving at the end of her leash to keep a good eye on them. There's definitely a good bit of interest there! She has done this to some extent since the very first day she came to a show, but she was WAY excited about the running this weekend -- SUPER adorable to see!! I love her more every day. :) & what's more, Josie adores her, so if I have the blessing from my best girlie, I know I'm golden.
It was an absolutely gorgeous, totally not-at-all-winter-like day today. 70degrees and just beautiful outside. Just the ride amount of wind, just the right amount of sunshine (ie not a cloud in the sky), and totally bizarre considering all of Dallas was shut down on Tuesday/Wednesday because of an ice storm, freezing fog, etc. Then it's 70 on Saturday. & Texans wonder why they spend the winter months sick as a dog? Mystery solved! After the trial I took the girls to Erwin and several of our good friends accompanied us. EA with Riggs and her new rescue girlie Ziva (both BCs), Edie and her two cattle dogs BJ & Dessa, and Blaine and Lucy all came with us. They all petered out about an hour before I left, but it was good to have them there -- the more dogs Fillie gets used to hiking with, the better! Without further ado, I bring you Today's Edition of Photos of Fillie.
Running...for the sake of running!
Running...for the sake of scaring the pants off poor Ziva!!
Two beautiful smoothie girlies!
Look, Ma, don't you just love my ears?!
Little dog, Big field!!
Hey Lucy, you know that's MINE, right? Why?? Because EVERY toy is mine, DUH!!!
"One of these things is not like the others..."
I told her she's too young to date, but it didn't stop her from swooning all over Riggs all.day.long!!!
Three pretty SniderGirlies (Madison was at home on squirrel patrol -- important business!).
Hurry Up, MOM!!!
So...what're we lookin' at again??
Fillie's always walking under Josie and startling her. Hah!
Sisterly Love :o)
Not only does she look like cotton, but she feels like it, too!!
Josie's left ear is giving it the old college try!
Sisterlies!! & 5 prick ears...
The longer we walked, the higher the ears stood up. The right one started off the day being floppy, I swear it!
Enough puppy pictures already, let's get back on the trails!!
And so we did...
30 January 2000 ~ We have lift-off!
Fillie's ears decided to stand up, straight up!!, for the first time today. They will be up full=time before I know it. I sure do love thos floppy ears, but I know hers will be adorable as tiny little prick ears, too :-)
30 January 2009 ~ Puppy Kindergarten, Week 2
Week 1 was just Crate Games. Not a whole lot to talk about there :)
Puppy class last night was good!! Fillie really does well with the clicker. Once she gets a little older and has a longer attention span, I think we'll be golden! She lasted a solid 30min and that was great for her, but I think as she gets older, her longevity will increase. She also played played played with some of the dogs after class. She had a BLAST and was worn out by the end of it all!!
I let her sleep in the bed with me last night. It wasn't until 7:30 when she asked to go out that I had to put her back in her crate. I let her out and then tried to get her to go back to sleep on the bed but she was way too awake for that, so in the crate she went. !! She wasn't really thrilled with that, but that's the way it goes around here. I think I'll take them to Breck before long. They need to RUN -- they've all been pretty couped up this week with the weather being freezing and icky. I feel like such a bad dog mom if they don't get out of the house for two days in a row. Whether mother nature plays a hand in it or not, I still feel badly. My girls are used to having a lot of activity. While my adult dogs can make do with smaller amounts of physical stimulation, the puppy's not to that point yet. She's B.U.S.Y. !!
25 January 2009 ~ Josie & Ivie take the Poodle Club by storm!
Josie's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rWmyadGVho (synopsis in the description)
Ivie's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIYLd1r0L-4 (synopsis in the description)
24 January 2009 ~ Felicity is 13.4lbs and ~14" tall (11wks old)
19 January 2009 ~ Fillie's first week[end] in Texas!
On Fillie's first Friday in Texas, she accompanied me & my girls (Josie, Maddie, & Ivie) to the park that we frequent. Donna & her three (Siryn, Puppy, & Mindy) came up to attend the local USDAA show and came with us to the park. Unfortunately we did not have more than an hour of daylight left, but the dogs enjoyed it all the same. It was Fillie's first big outdoor adventure with all the dogs and she did a GREAT job of keeping up with everyone and staying with the pack! A few times towards the end you could tell she wanted to chase the bigger dogs, but just didn't have the energy left. She would then flop her whole body down and grunt in protest. She wanted to keep playing SO bad!! It was absolutely adorable. I was expecting to have to carry her a lot, but she really held her own, !!
I figured she'd be tired after such an adventure, but she was still ready to play afterwards. She has the stamina of a dog twice her age! (and at this age that's a good thing!!)
Learning the joys of the Chuck-It.
Saturday she came to the agility show and had a blast meeting all sorts of new people and dogs. She wasn't phased a bit by any of it. She hadn't been asked to walk on a leash ever before, so she wasn't sure about that. Otherwise, she was a perfect angel! She is totally calm when being held but you put her down and she's ready to GO. She loved watching the dogs running the course, and made friends with all my friends' dogs. She was passed from person to person and wasn't the least bit concerned. She took the atmosphere of the agility trial in stride, and in fact seemed to feed off of it. She is a fearless little munchkin!
After the show we walked around the neighbouring farmlands and she definitely held her own and kept up with the ever-increasing pack! (2 more BC's and a Golden joined us as well) She likes to follow Maddie because Maddie investigates all the coolest things when we're out walking. Hopefully she doesn't pick up on any of the BAD habits that Maddie has. ;-)
After a full day of fun and meeting new people and dogs at the show, plus about an hour of walking (running/loping for the dogs), she was still full blast all night long! I was up until about 11pm and she was up with me the whole time! Donna went to bed a few hours before I did, but Siryn stayed out with me & my girlies. Siryn and Fillie played like there was no tomorrow!! They wrestled, they wiggled around on the ground together, they chewed on each other, and they had an out-&-out blast together!! Madison also started full-on playing with her for the first time this evening. I guess she was jealous of Siryn playing with her little sister before she really did. Fillie was quiet as a mouse once I put her in her crate for the night, but until I asked her to stop playing for the day, she did not!!
Sunday was another day of the same at the show – meeting/greeting any & every one at the show site. Fillie even had a photo shoot with the photographer there and we got some FABulous photos of her taken! I can't wait for the proofs!! She made even MORE friends on Sunday and full-on played with a couple red dogs. She's a red dog at heart ;-)
After the show, we packed up and headed to Erwin Park to walk the bike trails. Unfortunately there were also a LOT of bikers out there. Annoying!! We did manage a few really good photo shoots out at the park, and once again little Fillie kept up like a real trooper! I'm just pleased as punch with this little dog. She has the determination of a real dog, not a puppy. She seems somewhat wise beyond her years (much in the same ways as Josie was at her age), but she's still all-out silly when playing with toys. She's kept me laughing since she's been here!!
Donna and her crew left yesterday evening and I introduced Felicity to the clicker. She picked it up really quickly and was surprisingly motivated considering I was just using Innova Puppy food as her treat! She picked up sit really quickly and I started charging her name to aide in recalls. I just did a little ¼ cup worth of food in the first session and she was surprisingly in tune to it all.
This morning I again took out the clicker to click her breakfast and she was a superstar! I did a whole ½ cup of kibble this am and she stayed totally into it the whole time! I don't know how long her threshold of attention span is, but at 10wks, I did not expect THIS much! Especially from a pup that has yet to be trained to do anything. She's really is a QUICK little puppy, and I can only imagine that training her is going to be a real joy. Thus far she knows sit, and is beginning to recognize her name. She will lie down with a hand gesture but I haven't named it yet. Didn't want to overload her little head. I'll definitely be clickering her dinner, too. This pup is BRIGHT.
BREAKING NEWS – I just caught Josie and Fillie playing for the first time ever!! I'm up here on the computer and the puppy was downstairs chewing on a chewy and I heard some tussling…I looked over and both Josie & Fillie were on their backs, in full-on wrestle mode!! I was careful to be quiet and not interrupt. It just went on and on and on!! I love it!!! Josie was play-bowing, Fillie was circling her and coo'ing…(it's hard to find a word for the strange sounds she makes!) I am SO glad Josie loves her already. I thought it would take much longer – colour me pleasantly surprised!! Now it's just Ivie that needs to learn to love her. That, too, will come! :)
Her philosophy on life:
Felicity means Happiness -- I'd say this pup lives up to her name...!!!
Maddie says "Really, Fillie? A leaf? You're going to play with a LEAF???"
15 January 2009 ~ Weigh-In
I took Fillie to the vet today and she weighs in at 13.3lbs at 2 days shy of 10 weeks old.
12 January 2009 ~ I'm a Judge!
I just spent the weekend at a USDAA judging clinic and I'm happy to report that I am now a Starters/Advanced Judge! The clinic was very well-run and interesting. If you or a club near you needs a Starters/Advanced judge, I'm for hire! Especially since I just lost my 'real job' this morning. 50% of my department was down-sized, and out the door I went. I'm sure I'll find a job to replace the one I lost, but keep me in mind for any S/A assignments you might have!! Thanks :)
5 January 2009 ~ What a way to ring in the New Year!!
Josie, Ivie, & I had a totally fabulous time at the New Years USDAA show in Belton, TX!
Ivie earned 18 out of 25 possible Q's, and Josie earned 16 out of 25 possible Q's. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a 5-day event! :) AT the show, Ivie earned LAA-Silver and SCH-Platinum. Josie earned SaCH and GCH-Gold! (She earned GM at the same show last year -- that means she earned 30 gambles in one year -- wowzas!!)
Ivie Q'd & placed in 4 rounds of Jumpers (one of each 1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th)! That's IVIE...running JUMPERS...Q'ing 4times in a weekend!! Craziness! She also earned 2 SuperQ's to finish out her 50 with a bang.
Josie earned two, that's right TWO, Standard legs over the course of the weekend. She won all 3 Standard classes offered in 2009, Q'ing in 2 of them :) She, too, earned a couple Jumpers Q's. She SuperQ'd in some Snookers, won a couple team classes, and had the fastest time of ALL the dogs in Grand Prix (0.62sec faster than the 1st place 22" dog even!!). Too bad she picked THAT aframe contact to be the first one she missed all weekend -- UNfortunate!! She had a few silly moments, but was overall a total superstar. She's a fun one!!
Josie's team won the relay and placed 2nd overall in the DAM event. Ivie's team placed 3rd overall in the DAM event! What a weekend, for sure!! :)
Twist (now known as Kindle) also found herself a new home over the weekend. Overall, a complete success!!
