Monday, March 29, 2010

All That CSI Watching Paying Off

Just a smidge of sleuthing required to obtain warrant for arrest of Very Bad Dog who got into housemates little pre-packed-trying-to-eat-better-at-work lunches. Very curious to come home from work and find living room carpet covered in smatterings of broccoli and cauliflower.

Suspect #1 way too relaxed to have Done Bad Things
DSC_6835

Also, finished din-din in record time. Obviously not full of baby trees
DSC_6830

Suspect #2 appearing rather nervous. One may call it guilt.
DSC_6831

Can’t stop there, though. Looking guilty not being guilty. Some people a bit more uncomfortable being question by frowning authority figure.

Suspect #3 not looking guilty at all. One may even say “nonchalant.”

On the other hand…er…paw, to be precise….we may have a smoking gun.
DSC_6827

Damn rule-breaking Aussies always trying to gets me in the trouble
DSC_6833

:-)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

All Done

What a great weekend.

Belly got her C-ATCH – Woot!

We had an 8 for 8 perfect Q weekend – Woot!

And got some raffle swag! Woot!

It was our anniversary trial, too. We started 2 years ago at the Bay Teams' March CPE. Two years, 20 trials. I don’t know how many runs, because my mind doesn’t go there, but if we stay with the 2 theme it’ll probably be another 200 trials before a C-ATE. Haha.

If I were someone who posted videos of myself on the interwebz I would totally share her nice little Fullhouse C-ATCH run. But, alas, I am not one of those people. You’ll just have to use your imagination. She got all silly with the applause and didn’t want to do a vic lap. Just wanted to chew on the pole. :-) Hey, whatev’, if you’re happy munching on PVC knock yourself out. She earned it.

And oddly enough, this is the only outside pic Bella ruined was in all weekend.
DSC_6814

Kate was the photogirl
DSC_6818

I didn’t have a toy. Was just letting her free-run all weekend. That leads to coveting.
DSC_6815

Coveting Luke and any fun he might be having without her
DSC_6808

Luke (who you have to call Loooooooooook, BTW) is who we generally stalk at trials. We always run right behind Luke. Totally makes my life easy. Much easier than, say, following a Border Collie or Aussie or Sheltie. He’s not even a Dalmatian. He’s the Dalmatian.

Kate has a thing for the spotty boys
DSC_6806

Hussy.
DSC_6805

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

She Listens Well

I told Bella on Saturday morning that if she just listened to me during Jacklers she could be an asshole the rest of the day. Apparently, she took me up on it.

Great Jackpot run. Non-traditional. And at that, one of those where you can get points for all completed gambles, not just the first. Did all three. 82 points. Good girl.

Everything else? Crapola.

Yes, I know that’s what I said.
DSC_6647

At least the needed run was before the wind kicked up. Really, really kicked up. All those shades put up? Down by 10. Crazy windy.

Like, weight down your Beardie windy.
DSC_6736

Bella got all sniffy. Not ground sniffy, air sniffy. Not something she usually does. Not a stress thing for her either. Sillies would be her stress thing. Perhaps also not seeing weave poles. The wind just kicked up some interesting stuff, apparently.
She became a hound.

Scratched last 2 runs. All about the fun, remember? Going around course yelling Heeellllooooo Beeelllllaaaaaa not so much for either of us. Just play some ball. Enjoy the sun. No yelling.

Miss Kate not distracted by smells in wind.
DSC_6629

Maybe time to switch dogs?
DSC_6631

Then again, maybe not just yet
DSC_6635

Friday, March 12, 2010

Not MIA As Much As TAH

That would be Tired As Hell.

This trialing thing, exhausting business. Although, I'm not tired while there, just during the week. Maybe it's work that's draining? Not so much the dog business?

Two weekends down, two to go. Things have been going great. And, by "great" I mean we have been Q'ing fools in Gamblers. Or, Jackpot. Jackpot with the gamble bit it in.

Can we just call it Jacklers and be done with it?

I have always had trouble with Jacklers because my timing sucks. Bella is totally fine with distance stuff. Once again, I'm the weak link. But not now. Total zen gambles. The first thing I stopped was worrying about points. Points will be there. Worry about number of obstacles and ending in a good place and when gamble starts KEEP MOVING. Bam. End of story. That's it.

Well, I do have to worry about where she is pointed and where I'm facing and for gods sake yell weave BEFORE she comes out of the tunnel. It's all good now.

If anyone wants to have a Jacklers seminar with total nobody handler here it is:

Don't stop and stare at your dog.

You're welcome. Please come again.

So, was talking with owner of dirty Beardie heiny in previous post about how neither of us were smart enough to save an easy class for our C-ATCH run. Damn Jacklers. We were joking about how it would be the whole bring-the-pole-out-take-the-pole-back dance for lord knows how many trials. Well, thankfully I was smart enough to be stupid and miscount some Q's. We have one Jackpot and one Fullhouse to go. Keep paws crossed. If she gets her gamble this weekend we will only have one silly class to go!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

It's Not Agility Without An Ugly Red Bedspread

I think the dog-accepting hotel people figured out that this color hides the most dirt. Dog hair? Bodily fluids?

Always cute dogs on fugly beds
DSC_6336

Had a great trial this weekend. 8 out of 10 Q’s, for those of you keeping score. The 2 NQ’s were totally my fault. Not dog being a shit NQ, handler being a dummy NQ. Hey, I pay the bills, I can screw up if’n I wanna.

So, for some stupid reason, I have 4 trials in a row. I never do that. Rarely even back to back. But, I wanted to do all 4, so in order to cut some cost I decided to drive up day-of. Have I told you that I did this once before and it was like out worst trial experience ever? I probably did.

I generally go up night before. I do this agility thing for fun. Getting up at 3:30 AM on a Saturday morning soooo not fun. Does make for pretty mornings in the fog, though.
DSC_6370

This, however, starts about an hour before the last run
DSC_6353

Me and Bella, totally on the same sleep page

Too bad Kate’s not an agility dog. She like a fricking machine, that one. Runs on batteries. Or, perhaps crack. Never tired.
DSC_6354

Saturday was rainy, rainy. So, mud all weekend. Was like walking around with 10 lb weights on each shoe.

If you have ever thought to yourself, “I wonder why Pia doesn’t own a Beardie?” This is why…
DSC_6385

HAHA.