Back to Nature

Nature Hike, originally uploaded by mandypug.

My parental units took the trailer out for a test run before we head out to Kimberley this coming weekend and despite working my arse off all weekend i went out for a night with Izzie.

Bear? No... Just a Ground Squirrel., originally uploaded by mandypug.

It was fun. We ate lots of S'mores and cooked outside near a yummy smelling campfire. S'mores make the world go round, i'm convinced of this. They're the best thing evar.

Hurry up with the S'mores!, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Of course having a trailer means we don't have to give up a ton of luxuries to camp. So much more comfy than tenting. We still have a bathroom and water to wash our hands in instead of rocking the hand sanitizer (though i admit i do that in any situation).

Can't leave all the luxuries at home., originally uploaded by mandypug.

But in the end, camping isn't something i like to seek out for long periods of time. Despite having a shower in there i prefer my own shower, and while the bed is fine i do miss my own bigger bed. Overall i love the trailer though, and it's a hell of a lot better than tenting!

Enough with camping..., originally uploaded by mandypug.

Oh and being able to cook pancakes in the morning easily indoors? Love it.

Whoop Up Days 2011

Whoop Up Days 2011, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Izzie and i spent all of our last week at our local fair called Whoop Up Days. We were performing with our agility club to show off all our talented well trained dogs.

Izzie did awesome all week and showed people that little Pugs can do big things! We even conquered some fears like the A-Frame! Izzie also got faster every demo we had, i was having trouble keeping up. She is getting more confident the more we play and i love seeing that.

I also got the opportunity to run dogs that weren't mine! That was super fun, especially when i got to run with my favouritest Flat Coated Retriever EVER, Kaleb!

Kaleb!, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Isn't he awesome? He's such a cool dog.

I also got to run Tate the 9.5 year old Rough Collie and wow he runs fast for an old boy! It's always a cool learning experience running a dog that isn't yours. Every dog has a different style that works for them and you really have to learn to adapt. 

We also had a huge crowd hit with Sarah's Gyppie with a little Border Collie sized saddle on!  She ran the barrels in the barrel race so fast even with that awkward thing on her back, such an amazing little dog!

Gyppie the Barrel Racing Dog!, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Overall it was an awesome week and I'm glad i participated. Can't wait for next year!

What a Weekend!

29/52: First Q Ever, originally uploaded by mandypug.

This past weekend was our first agility trial ever! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. We Q'd on our very first run ever with a first place even! I made mistakes and we didn't Q in our second run but hey, first time out we didn't do so bad! It makes me tear up a little to see how far my little Pug has come. It sounds sappy but I'll let the videos do the talking...

That dog in those videos used to run away at the sight of an agility ring or equipment. She used to hide in tunnels and find the farthest lap from me to sit in to avoid doing agility. She was slow and unmotivated to do more than a trot.

Some say i should have given up right there and that she didn't like it so why try again. So what if they think I'm selfish for trying again. It wasn't the game of agility that hurt her, it was the training (or lack of) that did. I knew my little dog though, and i knew she loved the game for real and we just needed another better shot at it.

So in the end. This Q is thanks to the fantastic guidance i've had over the past year. Thanks to the advice of Lynn from On Target Dog Training in Ontario, and meeting someone from Go Dog Go! at 2010 AAC Nationals, i might not have ended up with the Sarah and Amanda the most fabulous instructors i have now.

Well that sounded like an Academy Award acceptance speech but whatever! Thanks guys, you're the best and i couldn't have gotten here without you!

Look at my Loot!

Lucky Pug!, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Izzie's birthday present(s) finally arrived. She'll have one more on the way soon but it's a functional present so that's like getting underwear for your birthday which is kinda a downer gift, though it might be considered like super sexy underwear since it is pink and exotic.

ANYWAYS

As you can see she got 8 million toys. Well only 12 toys, but i thought i might have actually ordered 72 toys which would've been excessive. They're cheapo latex squeaky toys and anyone that knows me, knows i don't do cheap. It's a curse really, i have expensive tastes. However these toys, specifically the blue fish with big red lips (who the hell thought of these toys? They're so weird looking) has a lot of significance to me and Izzie.

FLASHBACK!
*Insert Wayne's World Flashback Imitation Here*

When Izzie was just a 6 month old pup she had her eye clawed by a vicious devil cat named Jersey. She had to have extensive eye surgery with a super strict long recovery period so she didn't really get to enjoy her puppy hood from 6 months to 1 year old a whole bunch. It was unfortunate really. The blue kissy fish was her favourite toy though and it was non fuzzy so safe enough for her to play with for a little while anyways, too much activity could have affected the eye healing due to pressure. Anyways, one day i found it in shambles. One of the other Pugs was terrible and devoured the poor fishy. Izzie was heart broken and i couldn't find a replacement.

Until recently...

I was chatting with my friends one night about what to get Izzie for her birthday and referenced the puppy picture of Izzie with her fish and said "Hey i should find one like that!" and i did. I was so happy to find her favourite puppy hood toy and ordered 12 because they were assorted and i figured ordering 12 would at least get me a couple of blue fish.

Izzie loves the new toys though, all of them but especially the blue fish. It's still by far her favourite and she recognized it immediately and because playing like a little puppy again! It was so cute! I'm glad she likes her presents.

Nom the Fishy!, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Ready? Set? Tug!

Ready? Set? Tug!, originally uploaded by mandypug.

My dog isn't a tugger. We've been working on it but she really just couldn't care less about tugging. She's never even laid a tooth on her tug lead since i received it.

Until last night that is...

Maybe it was because she had 3 dogs around giving her competition for the tug but she was jumping up to hang off it in my hand, all four paws off the ground and all! Crazy Pug. Then i caught this gem on camera... Went cross eyed tugging, jeeze Pug.

Izzie the Wonder Pug CGN... Now a Certified Not Bad Dog

27/52: Bad Pug isn't so bad anymore..., originally uploaded by mandypug.

So on Friday the 29th, Izzie and I attended the big Alberta Kennel Club show up in Calgary so we could take the Canine Good Neighbour test. Of course I was terribly nervous while Izzie was cool as a cucumber. Everyone loved her at the test, she is a very cute and well behaved little dog.

Anyways, after a bunch of waiting we finally got to do our test. The first part was the one i was the most nervous about, Supervised Isolation. She isn't allowed to howl and whine and tug at the leash and isn't allowed to jump into the lap of the person holding her leash. Here I'm thinking "Shit, she's gonna jump up into the person's lap for sure" so i looked her in the eye and said "Izzie, don't you jump up! Be GOOD!" and left her. After 3 minutes i came back and the evaluator said she did fine and passed that part. Whew! The hard part was over. Everything else was cake. Even though Izzie's never done recalls on a long lead and we've been practising off lead.

So in the end my little bad Pug passed her CGN evaluation and i am very proud of her! Perhaps i should stop calling her bad then? Though she still has her moments (but we all do lol).

Good Pug. She'll be getting back into her Therapy work as of next week as well, which she loves. She's an attention whore so it's right up her alley.

The Big T-H-R-E-E!

28/52: Birthday Girl, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Well it was the little bad Pug's birthday on Sunday! She is now three whole years old and I would like her to stop aging right now, she needs to stick around forever and ever and ever. 

We haven't had the formal party with her friends yet since apparently my dog's birthday isn't a valid excuse to bail on prior commitments but oh well! I ordered her something special online so maybe it'll get here for her actual party. Date to be announced. 

So Happy Birthday little bad Pug! I love you to the moon and back!