That Black Guy in My Bed is a Superstar

The Black Guy in my bed on the trip.

So I've never been to a speciality before. Not even one for my breed let alone one for a breed I've never in my life owned. Dog shows in general confuse me sometimes although I have gained more understanding over the years.


Dog shows, particularly conformation shows, are interesting. Besides grooming and doing your best to pick and choose which judges to show under, there isn't a whole lot you can do to increase the odds that your dog will get picked by the judge. No amount of training is going to matter. Basically you have to go in and hope like hell that the judge likes your dog, and that's tricky as every judge is going to like something slightly different albeit still within standard. So while the judge on Thursday during sweeps didn't have Sarah's Kaleb in mind for his ideal, K is still within standard and is a pretty fine specimen if I do say so myself. Plus the judge on Friday really liked him, more on that in a moment.

My favourite boy, Kaleb.

Coming from the Pug world, I find FCRs fascinating. These dogs are not just pretty show dogs, they have letters on both sides of their name. Working certificates, obedience and rally titles, hunt test titles, tracking. They do it all. Yes they're a working breed and can't really compare them to Pugs, but my point is that FCRs are well rounded dogs who really can do everything and have the letters on each end to prove it. I like that. I like that a lot. The dogs in the veterans ring can still move well, largely they're still in shape, and I bet they all still get the sillies now and then too. I want a breed like that. 

Jona is a Liver coloured FCR, he's from the same breeder as K. I really liked him!

Anyways... The judge on Friday really liked Kaleb. Not only did he win his class (9-11 Veteran Males) he won one of only four Judges Award of Merit awards in the Best of Breed ring. What a good boy, he made his mama and everyone who knows him proud.

K winning 9-11 Vets. I think every one of us cheering you on was thinking the same as you, Sarah.

Besides the dogs, what I find truly spectacular in FCRs is the people. They're so friendly. They are welcoming and enthusiastic and seem to enjoy their dogs for everything they are. Again, something I enjoy oh so much. FCR people are just like their dogs, friendly and full of life no matter how young or old.

Do everything in life with enthusiasm.

This was a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and lots of dogs in a breed that I really do admire and will own one day. It's nice to have interacted with a larger sample size to get a feel for the breed. I went into this wondering if it would come back loving them even more or not at all. The answer is clear, I love this breed.

Thanks for letting me tag along for your special trip, buddy.

So that's my observations on the speciality. Tune in tomorrow for a run down on the Vancouver part of this adventure or possibly some talk of the sheer what-the-fuckery that went on during the whole trip, or maybe I'll write nothing. You never know unless you come check. Oh look, logs.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted

Five Days. Two thousand three hundred kilometres travelled (give or take). More FCR slime and goosings than I could keep track of. Indian Sweets and lots of booze. What can I say to summarize this trip? I'm at a loss for words really... Simply put, it was the most fun I've had in my adult life. Thank you so much, Sarah, for the opportunity to come with you for this whirlwind adventure. I learned a ton and had a great time being able to relax and just have some fun with dogs.

I didn't really tell many people that I was even going away, I didn't even post about it on here that I can remember. I don't know why, I guess maybe for fear of people looking at me like I have three heads for choosing to use my vacation to hang out with a whole lot of dogs. Flat Coated Retrievers even. Two days of FCRs galore; heaven or hell, that's for you to decide. Ha! That whole fear of being judged thing has been tossed in the trash along with meat and my aversion to trying new things. 

I needed this trip despite that really financially it wasn't a good move to take this much time off work (even with vacation pay, I'm going to be hurting a bit for the next month or more). I hadn't taken time for myself ever. Trials, shows, family commitments; yes it's all time off but I had to do something or be something. I'm never allowed to not BE something. There were no expectations for me going into this trip besides making sure I continued breathing and being a reasonably polite and conscientious travel buddy. I think I did that adequately, although looking back I was a bit dramatic and annoying when I got bit by the wasp at the winery and there were a few moments I wasn't breathing I was laughing so hard. 

The hilarity. Oh Jeeze. I've never laughed so much in my life as I did these past five days. When Sarah says look, well just do yourself a favour and don't look; it's probably something you don't want to see. Unless you want to laugh your ass off in a gas station parking lot, then by all means knock yourself out by looking at whatever atrocity she's pointing out. Actually, scratch the first part, just do the latter because holy fuck it's gonna be funny and really we all need more laughter these days. Oh and the signs. Shit, the signs. Naked man on a tractor, south park sheep, Rudolph caribou? Oh jeeze that south park sheep... Sofa king hilarious.

Found this on a Google search since we missed getting a photo of such an awesome sign.

Have you ever watched your dog grow before your eyes? I don't mean physically grow. In five days Izzie became more confident, more mischievous, more bold. Five days. She played with a FCR puppy... In the rain! She scratched herself a nice hole in her soft crate and tipped over the Gyp-tent multiple times. Oh and she swam in the ocean! Tons of little things that make a difference. Izzie idolizes Gyp and if Gyp would play with a FCR or a toy in the hotel room or cuddle up with Sarah then Izzie wanted in on it too. So cute and funny. 

I guess the take home message from my trip was to do things for your own self sometimes. Put enthusiasm into everything you do, be appreciative for the good things you have, take things for what they are and make the best of them, and travelling 26 hours round trip is best done with someone who one moment can have a serious conversation about life with you and the next moment laugh with you until you can't breathe about something totally random and possibly very immature. I could have saved my money and worked these five days in my mundane dead end job, but what fun would that be. I'm 20, unless some unexpected tragedy strikes me down soon I have my whole life to work. It was high time I let myself exhale and do something for me. 


"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller

Two New Titles!

27/52: Ring Of Fire, originally uploaded by mandypug.

The Pug is now Izzie RN AGNS AGJNS ADC SGDC CGN!

Izzie did great all weekend earning seven out of eight possible Qs despite it being hotter than hades out there. Here's the breakdown.

Trial 1
Standard - Izzie ran fast and happy. Too happy. She super-pug'd off the dog walk contact which is an automatic NQ. I need to get her a cape.
Jumpers with Weaves - Fast and clean! First Q in CKC agility and first Q toward her Novice JWW title!

Trial 2
Standard - Fast and happy again but clean this time. First Q toward her Novice standard title.
JWW - Clean, slowed down a bit, second place to a schanuzer named Riley who was cute. Second Q toward her Novice JWW title!

Trial 3
Standard - Clean and fast! Second Q toward her Novice Standard title!
JWW - Clean and moderately quick. Third and final Q needed for her Novice JWW title! Woohoo!

Trial 4
Standard - Clean and fast. Third and final Q needed for her Novice Standard title! Woohoo!
JWW - Clean and not super fast but it was stupid hot. Insurance Q with me doing a (very poor) cartwheel down the ending line of jumps.

I'm very proud of the little Puglet. She's a good girly who is getting very consistent. She even handled the hot weather well, better than I did!

Feed the Pug

A friend of mine has written a short film to create and enter into a film festival. It stars a cute Pug named Ulysses (who happens to be a Canadian Pug in California) who deserves a shot at fame. However to make this a reality they need some donations! Click HERE to be taken to their Indiegogo campaign page! A portion of the money will be going to Pugsavers Pug Rescue.

Junior Handler

26/52: You're My Best Friend, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Acey ran Izzie a couple times for the Canada Day demos put on by Go Dog Go and aside from a couple remembering bobbles they did great. Izzie is really getting more confident in working for Acey and Acey is learning to remember courses and how to handle them. With some more practise they'll rock those courses!

Obedience

We went out tonight for scenthurdle and after did some heel work after doing nothing of the sort for a couple months. Izzie didn't miss a beat. Actually I think her heeling was better than ever despite MY footwork being rusty. Izzie and I are now working at it and I'd really like to get her a title or two in regular Obedience eventually. She's a very smart and capable little dog as long as I get it together and I practise smart with her. She can do it, I know she can. 

I don't like to set goals, but here goes. We are going to train and try her out in the Novice Obedience ring at our home club show in November. 

There... I said it, and now you all know so you better hold me to it! 

I need to try keeping a training log too but I'm rubbish at writing things down, but for my own improvement I'm going to try. What we worked on, how she did, what we can improve on, etc. So maybe I'll write things up on a page on my blog here and it'll keep me accountable. 

Anyways, here's a couple photos that the wonderful Amanda from manymuddypaws took of us tonight when we went out to play scenthurdle and obedience.

Go Fetch!

An attentive and happy little Puglet.

The Elevator of Success is Broken, Please Use the Stairs

25/52: Step By Step, originally uploaded by mandypug.

Via Flickr:
Izzie and I are really coming along in agility. We earned two more Qs toward her Advanced Games Dog of Canada title this past Sunday with only slight mistakes on my part keeping us from Q-ing our other two runs. I'm very happy with our progress thus far and it gives us motivation to power on forward into the harder levels!

Becoming successful in anything requires hard work. There may be people who attain success seemingly overnight. Lucky bastards maybe? Who knows. But for the rest of us poor sods, we've gotta put in the effort to get out the success. It's like taking the stairs, you've got to exert that force to carry yourself each step. Unlike the elevator, it's all on you to get to where you're going. Nothing is going to carry your ass up those stairs except you.

How does this relate to agility? Well agility is a sport; and like with any sport, you will get out what you put in. If you haven't been working on your rear crosses, don't expect them to be fantabulous when you are forced to do them on a course. Simple as that.

Going back to the stairs comparison, the first time you start your journey up those stairs and trying anything it will burn and you will want to quit. You will shed blood, sweat, and tears. If you don't, you're not trying hard enough. Feel the burn, cherish the burn. Then remember that the more you do those stairs and push yourself and work through it, the easier it gets. You might trip all over yourself trying to front cross at first, but you keep pushing through and practising and eventually something that seemed as hard as a triple salchow will come as easy to you as a bunny hop. Again if I had students to say this to I would harp on and on about it and maybe get it tattooed on my forehead, but you get out what you put in.

So next time someone exclaims to you "Wow you guys are so successful! I wish my dog and I could do as well as you and yours!", just remember that you put in the effort and you're reaping the rewards and bask in that warm fuzzy feeling that you get from your work.