Congratulations to MACH Spooner!

Ann and Master Agility Champion Bare Cove Silver Spoon!

In the US when a dog finishes their AKC Agility Championship (also called a MACH) the owner and dog get to keep the last bar on the course. They get the bar signed by all their friends and admirers and have a nice memento to keep to remember their special day. Usually their friends have cake and drinks and pressies and banners ready for that moment (which sometimes they can carry around for weeks just in case the dog finishes that 2oth QQ!)

Ann and Spooner finished their MACH at the Springfield Massachusetts Thanksgiving weekend agility show. It is a cool show; one that I loved going to as it was indoors, warm and on a dirt surface for the dogs. I met Ann and Spooner at Clean Run Camp two years ago. Spooner was just a young dog at the time but you could see such good things in store for the two of them! I was so impressed by Spooner and his brother Jif that I decided then and there to breed to Jif one day.

Anyway, congratulations to a great team! Now go get that ADCH (Usdaa agility championship)

Another funny thing is that in the USA a team can get a MACH 2,3,4...ad infinitum. Gets kinda weird as they celebrate each MACH all over again! I can see the first MACH as special but after that I think it is overkill!

and PS. when Zen finished her Agility Championship I didn't get any good pressies; so I want some good ones ready for when Hex finishes next year! And Champagne and cake and music. Maybe I should bring my own cheering section...do you think I can rent a few friends? hehe

Zen Dog Mug

I had a fabulous birthday dinner cooked for me on Saturday (bread and butter pudding for pudding-YUMMMMMMY!) by Tim and Marion. They found this fantastic mug for me also! Isn't that great? The best part is the saying on the back; so appropriate to my feelings about competing with my dogs.

"He knows not where he is going

For the Ocean will decide

It's not the DESTINATION...

...It's the glory of THE RIDE"

Woo-hoo! Thanks Zen for the most fantastic ride. You rock baby!

And check this out; this is really funny. I AM A BLOOPER!

Smooth Moves 2006 WC Video clips

Onto breeding news: Hob-b is now on day eight of her season. Hob-b and Tazz started flirting a bit yesterday. They are playing ever so cute and they don't usually play. Tazz does his version of being a stud dog....he rolls on his back and shows his bits to Hob-b. Oh Tazz...... ha!

Hex the Hexy Hexster

Today we took the ride up to Rugby with Sarah to pick up our 2007 Agility Club Trophies. Hex won the small Grade 5 trophy (that doesn't sound as good as winning the NOVICE trophy) but hey I won't complain! This is the same trophy (then called Top Novice Small dog)that Zen won in 2005 during her first year of competition also.


The trophies were really nice and are engraved with my name and with Hex's full KC name. That is a really nice touch to have an engraved personalized crystal trophy. My sweet Hex!





The ride wasn't too bad and thankfully Sarah drove. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive but it seemed to go pretty fast. I was disappointed that Sarah did not bring the handsome Tig along so she better take a photo of Tig with his trophy and post on her blog! Hex was not impressed as since I put on her special harness she thought it was AGILITY TIME! HA!





It has been a very surreal week finding out that Chi had a lump and then getting the unexpected diagnosis of Fibrosarcoma. I refuse to believe that Chi will do nothing but recover fully and be around for many more years. Besides he needs to make me a nice little sable girl with Hob-b so he better stay healthy for a long time!

I was looking at puppy photos as that is where my mind is going to be focused on this week with Hob-b and Tazz. I found this adorable photo of five week old Chi who just looks like a miniature version of his grown up self!

Happy Thanksgiving from Prague!

We are away for a long weekend (19th wedding anniversary and my ?? birthday) in Prague. Gotta keep reminding myself it is Thanksgiving! So to everyone back home in the USA..

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We are enjoying Prague and just got back from a great all-day walking tour around the city. A great way to see a new city. Dennis took the photo of the nasty old lady doll in a souvenir shop.

Just to keep this dog related; one of the tour guides walked around with her Viszla. The Viszla was extremely well behaved, wore a heavy dog coat against the cold and walked off-leash thru the whole city. Yeah my kind of place!

Girls Ya Can't figure them out!

Zen is supposed to come into season first! But I think she is determined to go back to Olympia to defend her crown because she is showing NO signs!

Each morning I check both girls and guess what I found this morning? Hob-b is in season! Oh well best laid plans and all that. Looks like Hob-b wants to be the first to use the whelping box this time!

OBay Logo

This was my original logo.

I would like to get my logo done in colour so that I can get a new embroidery done. Maybe with both a tri and sable sheltie! If anyone knows of any good (and inexpensive) logo artists can you let me know? Thanks!

Bi Black Monty pup

I know Johanna has her Be an elephant blog but I had to post this! This pup was from Monty's first bi-black litter. I want this puppy and hope she continues to be gorgeous as she grows! Can I say a prayer to the sheltie ear god that those ears tip?

Agility Practice: USDAA Grand Prix course

Lotsa agility.....just not for me! I have been taking it easy on my ankle especially as it seems I can find any hole or dip in the ground no matter how far or how small! I just seem to be drawn into them! On Thursday I was walking across a small car park and stepped in the only hole in the entire car park! Damn that hurt!




Friday we set up this course in the backgarden. It was The USDAA Grand Prix Dog Agility Final from the USDAA champs in Arizona. Again it was a good one to set up because I got to see some videos of the course being run and that helps in seeing exactly where the flow of the course is and where the challenges are. You can see it being run on Agility Vision; here are the winners from each height and here is a comparison of the top 4 in the 22" height class

We modified it slightly as I don't think I had a big enough area; but overall it looked good. The biggest challenge of collapsed tunnel-jump-tunnel was not exactly as it was on the original course because no matter how we tried we could not handle it as some of the other handlers did. I think the tunnel was probably over further than we could do.

I did not think to video all of us running but should have. Will remember next time! All the dogs did really well on it. We did remember to video Zen running for Nancy, Karen and myself. The funny thing is that she looks no different running for anyone else! Nancy is a girl after my own heart and wouldn't let Zen get away with running her A-frame! HA! Enjoy the video but blame Lisa for the barking Cheeky Chi in the background. Some people and their barking shelties...sheesh!



After we ran that course we switched it around a bit to run something different. We did a similar opening sequence but then went from the collapsed tunnel-jump to the opposite end of #8 and then back of #15 to the Aframe to the weaves. Now the A-Frame to the weaves was the most challenging part so it was really good practice for everyone. From the weaves to the dog walk and then to the back of #15 with a push thru to #16 and then finish as normal. Some good things to work on!

More World Champ music

This should get Lisa in a positive mood for Discover Dogs and Olympia! I found this video on Youtube and this is the music they play as you run around celebrating! Just listening to it give me the chills! I need this song for my Ipod along with the famous Kabouter plop song!

This n that and jump training

It was really peaceful here this morning. I got up early (for me!) and have been sitting with my HUGE Starbucks mug drinking big big cups for coffee surrounded by SEVEN quiet shelties. They can be so cute sometimes!

We have seven shelties right now as we still have Tazz visiting; he is anxiously awaiting for some girls to come in season. And we have Lucky visiting for a few days while Sonia and Bob have a much deserved weekend away to relax. Seven shedding shelties is a bit too much to have and my hoover is working overtime. I would never want to go back to seven dogs permanently and luckily Dennis is away this week!



Lucky has been a real gentleman. The funny thing is that, like Hob-b, he hates when the black girls (Zen and Hex) get into their play fighting frenzies. Lucky and Hob-b will then leap into my lap for protection and watch the action from a safe vantage point. Hob-b is easy as she is so small; but having a Lucky-sized sheltie leaping on your head can be dangerous! I love when Zen and Hex play fight as it is so reminiscent of when Joy and Pax would play together.

Training wise I have just been doing small bits with Hex to start getting her ready for Olympia. I have not been doing much running stuff as my ankle/foot still is not 100%; so I have been concentrating on sending to contacts away from me and on jump chute work. The jump chute work is based mainly on Susan Clothier Natural Jumping Method. I have started this method in the past but never worked my way thru the entire thing. So we are giving it a shot this winter. So far we are just finishing up the rhythms and impulsion chapters and are ready to move to the Problem solving chapter. I will post on any progress! If any of my blog readers have any jump training suggestions; please feel free to post! I only really know of two methods; Susan Clothier and Susan Salo. I have never donne Susan Salo's methods and would love to hear pros and cons.

We are headed off to Discover Dogs this weekend to groom for Lisa and Chi. Yeah finally! Zen was invited but I turned it down as I wasn't sure if she would be in season yet and she really doesn't need the practice. I do wish I had been invited with Hex as it would have been a good warmup for Olympia. Instead I will go as a perfect groom and wait hand and foot on Lisa and Chi. HA! And maybe check out the shopping opportunities...

Halo

As I think about the possibility of an upcoming litter with Zen; as always I worry about finding the perfect home for each puppy. A home that will love the pup no matter what; love it for being A SHELTIE with all their little sheltie quirks along with their sheltie specialness.

Halo (O'Bay Say A Little Prayer) is one of Jordan pups. Halo was my dog until around 6 months old when we decided we were moving to England. It was very hard to make the decision to NOT bring Halo with me; one decision that I regretted for a long time. But things always work out for a reason and I placed Halo in a home with someone I felt very comfortable with and someone who has shelties. I always knew Halo had a wonderful home with Karen; but recently that fact has become even more clear.

Halo was just recently diagnosed with cancer. Grade 2 Mast Cell cancer. Karen and Halo are fighting this with all their might and I am so grateful that Halo is in Karen's hands. Halo is undergoing 4-6 weeks of radiation to her leg and the prognosis is good for a full recovery. How blessed am I that Halo has such a dedicated owner? Very.

Happy 1st Birthday to Zen's pups!

Yesterday was the pups 1st birthday! Happy Birthday Kizzy, Whizz, Oz and Zoe! I wish there was a 5th name in there; I know we all miss little Zeus...

The very first O'Bay litter was born back in 1992. When they turned one year old we had a fantastic birthday party for them. I have to find the photos one time when I am back in NY because back in those olden days we only had print photos and no digital! Anyway all the dogs were well behaved. Of course, they would be as they were sable!

When we had the first OBay litter in the UK (notice the lack of apostrophe as the UK Kennel Club wouldn't allow me to keep a silly apostrophe in my Kennel name!) I decided to do another birthday party. It was a great idea in theory and I do think everyone enjoyed it except the neighbors! God that was a noisy bunch!

Here is True with her 6 babies! (and one child stuck in the middle!)



We had this adorable agility cake made! It looked better than it tasted!


This year so much was going on beforehand that I just could not get myself organized. I promise to all the owners and pups that pressies will be forthcoming! You may just have to wait a few weeks as they are on order and I am counting on someone in Denmark to help me! (Hi Johanna!)

International Sheltie Agility 2007 Genesis Final

Luxembourg Day 4: Sheltie Team day

Sunday was devoted to teams made up of 4 dogs. Each dog had 2 runs each. We didn't run as a team (ie: one after another) but ran individually and then they calculated the results at the end. The only other run I would have with Zen was a Genesis Final held at the end of the day. It was for the top 3 placed dogs from the agility run the day before.

Our team was made up of four Tri shelties. Our team-mate Roger came up with our name "LIBERO" which I thought sounded pretty cool. It actually takes the first two letters of each of our names! LI (Lisa) BE (Bernadette) and RO (Roger)! Unfortunately we forgot to get a photo of our team! That was silly and I blame Lisa as all weekend she kept saying "I want to take this photo for my blog...." over and over. And then when it counted......sigh.

Unfortunately none of us did spectacularly well in the team runs! On paper we had an AWESOME team but it was not meant to be! I think we ended up 12th overall out of 27 teams. I will post the jumping course; but can't seem to find the agility course map. The jumping was the only run that Hex went clear in all weekend! It wasn't exactly a pretty run; the ending got me when I tried a front cross between 15 and 16 to try and run the inside of the ending curve of jumps. With both dogs I wasn't able to get there and crossed really badly so the ending was certainly not pretty and we lost quite a bit of time. Hex ended up in 6th place in that run over the 120 odd small and mediums combined.




I liked this photo that Lisa took of Hex jumping over the wall! Well maybe she hit the button too soon. Hehe Actually I like it because it showed her turning on the flat between # 9 and #10. You needed to do this otherwise the dogs assumed they were turning left after the wall. You also couldn't run 9 and 10 with the dog on the left unless you were super fast!

And, believe it or not, this was Zen's look-a-like! When this dog ran she looked so much like Zen in both colouring and in body type. I also like this photo because it showed how so many dogs thought they were turning left after the wall!


After all the team runs were over; they set a jumping course for the Genesis Final. It was kind of strange that they set up a jumping final but choose the top dogs from the Agility class, but hey who am I to complain about an extra run!

Zen ran last out of the 10 medium dogs running in the final. I would LOVE to say that we won it; but sadly we had the typical jumping nightmare happen....the last bar dropped! SHIT! I blame the judge as he was clapping before we cleared the last jump and I refuse to hear anything different! HAHA! When all goes wrong; blame someone else!

The funniest part to me was how devastated Dennis was! I was like "Oh well" no big deal but he was gutted! I think he is getting spoiled with Zen winning too much!

I will try and post the Genesis final course map and video later. Then you can all cry along with Dennis when you see that last bar fall! And yes yes she would have won it by over .5 seconds! But Woulda coulda shoulda will get us nowhere!