It Snowed Yesterday

We all know the Pug is cussing about the snow in this photo...

Things that are not as fun for me as agility...

... But that I do because they're still pretty enjoyable and Izzie seems to enjoy them too.

Rally and Obedience. 

I like them don't get me wrong, but if I could only do one sport for the rest of my life it would be agility. It's my passion.

However, I do appreciate a well trained obedience dog who's happy to work with and loves their handler. That's a whole 'nother post that I doubt I'll ever write... But I digress. 

Izzie and I travelled out to Cowley today with Sarah to go to the fun match at the Southern Alberta Working Herding Dog Association (wow that's a mouthful! SAWHDA for short). There was two rings set up, one for rally and one for obedience. Izzie and I ran through a novice rally course a couple times, once on leash and once off. As usual our off lead heeling is a million times better than off leash (I can feel you giving me that "that's why I make you work on leash in class" look Amanda...) and the distraction of working at the same time as Sarah and Gyp in the obedience ring was a huuuuge challenge for Izzie as she loves her aunty Sarah and idolizes her cousin Gyp. She worked through it though with encouragement, what a good girly. 

She really liked Gyp's pointy nose dumbbell even though it squished up her cheeks.

In our training for obedience, besides duration in heeling with no verbal lovin's from me, her issue is her long sits and downs. Long sits are hard physically for dogs, if they're going to stay in one place for a longer amount of time they're going to lay down vs. sit. So this means endurance has to be built in the muscles to hold that position, especially when you're mentally and physically tired from the rest of the obedience routine before the sits. Practise practise practise though and we have been and I'm happy to say that she did not down on a THREE MINUTE sit. Very good girly! Her down? well that was another story, she started licking the floor like a weirdo and ended up getting up, twice. Oh well, practise and finding out these things are the purpose of fun matches. 

Nailed it!

After Cowley we headed home (in partially snowy weather) to go for lunch. Thanks for buying me lunch Sar, I owe you big time! Then we headed off to Perfect Pooches for another match. I wasn't entering Izzie but it's good for her to be in those places to get used to new environments anyway. 

We watched novice obedience and then it came time for the sits and downs for that and Izzie and I were encouraged to use it as practise, so we did. Izzie nailed the one minute sit AND the long down, despite a very resistant Border Collie next to her. Again, good girly!

After watching Sarah and Gyp do their open routine, we headed back to the city and to our respective homes to have naps. I am very proud of Izzie, she's come a long way from being paranoid of me stepping on her during heeling and freaked out by me being too far away from her. She's getting more and more confident the more activities we do! Can't wait for our rally advanced debut next month and hopefully a novice obedience debut in the new year!

I Suck At Blogging

Seriously.

I've been working a ton lately, like an actual adult. I don't think I like this being an adult stuff. Now if only I could win the lottery... Yeah, that'd be good.

Really you haven't missed much and I don't have much to blog about besides the fact that Izzie and I are very much alive and well.

The most fun we've had lately is a trip to the "beach" with the older Amanda and a few of her dogs. Izzie isn't much of a doggy dog, but she had fun playing for the most part! It was nice to see her run around on her own!



We've worked so much on her fetching that she's not afraid to pick up and put things in her mouth, even if it's just to chew on them and make faces. She never used to be a mouthy dog until she learned that yes indeed you can put it in your mouth.



We ran into Wendy too and Izzie met Lacey for the first time ever. She's much smaller in person than I imagined, about the same size as Iz but more heavy boned. She didn't seem to mind Izzie but I don't think I'd say they're BFFs or anything despite how much Izzie seemed to want to be.



On the way back we stopped at a field where there was a bunch of hay bales and I've always wanted to put Iz on top of one, so I did. The clouds from the rain that day were pretty angry looking which made the photo look pretty moody. I quite like it.



So that was the beach trip in a nutshell. Izzie and I both enjoyed it and it's a pretty cool place for photos too! 

Back to Back Agility Weekends: Part 2

I'm a slacker blogger lately! Izzie and I went to the Flashing Canines trial in Medicine Hat last weekend and the Pug did awesome! She brought home 1 Advanced Standard Q, 1 Masters Snooker Q and 1 Masters Standard Q. The Advanced Standard Q gave her the Advanced Agility Dog of Canada title too! Hurray! All her runs were great, especially her Masters Jumpers runs even though we were over time by a few seconds on each (my fault, I slipped and made handling mistakes). So I am very pleased!

The Masters Standard run was awesome. Izzie and I have been having trouble making time and that is no secret if you read my blog regularly. This run however was lovely, it was her first Masters level Standard run and we ended up being something like 12 whole seconds under time. That's huge! She nailed her weaves and was generally yippee skippy out there. So proud!

No luck with that last Advanced Gamble Q at that trial unfortunately. Oh well! I definitely know that our distance skills need work and that's something that I'll be working on over the winter in the barn for sure!

So in just over a year Izzie's in everything masters in AAC except Gamble. Not too shabby for a dog that some people said would never be able to qualify past starters level. 

Here's some video of our runs:

Oh and something else that might not seem like a big deal to some, but Izzie made the top dogs list for 2012! She's earned 11 Qs and 1 title this year with what they've recorded so far (she'll be up to 14 Qs and 2 titles when they get the ones from this weekend on that). Proud of the little Puglet. 

Super Kawaii!

Here's some of the photos I got from Izzie's supermodel shoot. Enjoy!

Thanks again Wendy!!!

Back to Back Agility Weekends: Part 1

Izzie and I have returned from our trial weekend in Kimberley, BC. I entered last minute as I wasn't planning on going but really the funds were there, they needed entries, and I get weekends off now. So why not? Just like last year it was a beautiful venue and since it was a smaller entry we were done in the early afternoon both days! How nice is that? 

Izzie ran well and she was feisty and I made mistakes in her first standard leading to just over 50 faults, my bad. Her gamble opening was fast and fun and she even got a mini gamble, but again I messed her up on the end gamble. See a theme here? Anyways, her jumpers was clean but unfortunately just 2 seconds over time. Story of our life. So no Qs on day 1, I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bummed and I whined to Sarah in text messages that night. Sorry Sar. So day 2 began with snooker and Izzie and I nailed it, Q and a first place which moves her up to MASTERS! Woo! Our first event to get into masters with! Then we had another standard, Izzie and I were on and running quickly and accurately and we Q'd with another first place. Last event of the weekend for us was another Jumpers, I was nervous about making time again but Izzie ran her heart out and with a whole run of only blind crosses we pulled it off with about 2 seconds to spare! Good Pug! That was the last advanced Q we needed in jumpers as well so now Izzie is in Masters in 2/4 events! 

This is huge for me because I actually made a goal this year, a smaller attainable one, and we're coming very close to making it with several months to go. All we need now is one more Standard Q and one more Gamble Q and we've reached our goal of getting into all masters events for the year. Makes me smile at how far this little Pug has come. Just last year at this trial she earned her second Q ever, a starters snooker Q. Kind of fitting that she gets the Q she needs to move into masters snooker at this trial eh? 

We'll be taking it easy this week in preparation for the Flashing Canines trial in Medicine Hat this weekend. Which reminds me! I need to email to move Izzie up in snooker and jumpers!

Oh and here's a photo for you all to enjoy =)

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!