She's a model

You know what she means and she does her little turn on the catwalk. Yeah, on the catwalk. She shakes her little tush on the catwalk.



Izzie had the opportunity to model for Wendy from Paws On The Run. Of course like a crazy dance mom I pushed the Pug forwards (figuratively) on Facebook and said she'd do it! Haha. Izzie had fun and I love seeing the perspectives from other people taking photos of my dog, I find it very interesting and I love Wendy's work!

Here's one of the photos she took of the Pug, there will be more to come later when I get them!

A Flat Coat and a Pug walk in a Parade...

About a year ago one of my parents' Pugs attacked Kaleb at a trial. Before that he had just met Izzie at our city's annual parade and adored her and would lick her ears until they were soaked. After the attack he generalized that all Pugs equal bad news bears and he even would try and attack Izzie out of fear. Poor Bird. So for the past year we've been keeping them relatively separated but not avoiding the issue, after all we tend to travel together quite a bit. It's been a slow go but Izzie and K were able to hang out together for his special trip to Abbotsford in July and yesterday I walked them both together side by side in our parade again. He's come around and now trusts Izzie again and I am so glad he does. They're quite possibly the cutest pair ever and lets face it I love K as if he were my own dog, his cheerful personality is infectious and I don't think I could ever give up hanging out with him. 

They're so freakin' cute together. 

Tequila Monsters and Science

33/52: Drowning On Dry Land, originally uploaded by mandypug.

So we're back from camp and it was an amazing albeit hot weekend!

First of all, Terry Simons was there. I love when he comes up for seminars because he's a really great guy with a lot of knowledge and he really pushes us to work hard. It helps that he's very honest and likeable too, even if he does force me to use rear crosses.

Another highlight of the weekend was being able to learn from a Canadian world team member. Anneli taught the distance portions of camp and I learned so much. I have a whole bunch of stuff to work on with Izzie.

Things not related to agility that were hilarious and/or fun... Well I learned to not turn my back to Terry unless I want ice water poured down my back and tequila is rather pricey but is also better than wine even if it gives me weird dreams lol.

Anyway, camp was awesome and I'm so grateful to everyone who had a part in putting it on. It was a wonderful experience and I really hope we do it again next year!

Seven Pounds

Isn't that the title of a movie?

Since Amanda asked, I'll post about Izzie's waistline.

In this first photo, Izzie weighed 20lbs. This was taken back in February of 2011, she was at her heaviest then.

She was still slim for a pug her height, but chunky. Not fit enough for sport at all and she was uncomfortable, always shifting her weight and standing funny.

This next photo is relatively recent, probably a month or two old now but she's 13lbs. Mind the crappy instagram awesomeness. This is her lightest adult weight.

See how much more pronounced her tuck is? She's also far more muscular and her collar size actually went down so much I had to give away both her nice leather collars as she didn't fit them any more and they couldn't be resized.

She lost seven pounds in a year. That's almost half her starting weight. She's much healthier for it and it wasn't that tricky to do. Her food was cut back and her exercise was increased. She's faster, more consistent and has more endurance now that she is at a correct weight. She could still have more muscle but we'll get there eventually now that she'll swim.

Anyways, there you go Amanda. A before and after of Izzie's weight loss.

I'm on a horse

So on Saturday the agility group headed out to a teeny little town called Nobleford to do a couple agility demos for their "day". We were even in the parade and won first prize in our category (we were the only ones lol). 

Me with my favourite borrowed big black guy of course and Izzie with her bestest kid.

The demos went awesome, Izzie was super cute as usual and is apparently a German Shepherd. Cool beans! I've always wanted a herding breed. 

She really lives for demos. Loves the crowds and all the cheering and attention she gets. She especially loves the meet and greet part where she gets lots of pets.

Oh yeah! And there were horseback rides for a twoonie (thanks to Sarah's mum for paying for me)! So Jo's kid, Acey rode with me to make sure I didn't fall off ;)

It was a pretty radical day I must say! Can't wait to be in the Whoop Up Days parade next week with LDKC, I really love parades. But before that, gotta focus on CAMP! Woohoo! It's finally here! I'm so excited, 2 days filled with agility seminars and great friends and cookies and then a games trial on the third day. Gonna be intense!

Come back next week for a post on our adventures at camp! 

(All photos in this post belong to Sarah)

AKC Summer Classic 2012

Another hot hot hot CKC trial and this time all our runs were back to back (I'm talking like 5 minutes between runs max) so I came home extra exhausted! Anyways Izzie ran awesome and thanks to some Glyco-Gen Energy Edge she kept a relatively consistent YPS and qualified in 7/8 runs. She also earned both her Agility Intermediate Select and Agility Intermediate Jumpers Select titles. What a good little girly!

So what did I learn this weekend?

- When I run confident and fast, my handling is a ton smoother.
- When my handling is smoother and I'm moving, my dog runs faster.
- Izzie knows what to do, it's time to stop holding her paw and push her.
- Remember what running Kaleb has taught me about handling like I mean it.
- Izzie and I can do "The Move".
- "YEAH BUDDY!" works, I should use it more.

So I'm resolving now to handle like I mean it, run fast, and push Izzie to be great because she definitely has the talent. Looking at the video footage I have, all the slow moments were because I wasn't being clear and I wasn't promoting movement. I need to fix that. I didn't get video of all our runs so here's some clips from the four that I did manage to get filmed! Enjoy.

The Pug Screams for Ice Cream

31/52: Happy Birthday, originally uploaded by mandypug.