Welcome to The OBay Shelties blog! Our blog is an honest diary of our life with our dogs along with news from Obay shelties around the world.

Monday, January 23, 2012

January 2012


December and January has flown by. I really wanted to do more blog posts but time got away from me. I also need to do more videoing of Giz-mo but I have forgotten how to edit video! My new little video camera is great for short clips of runs but I don't really know how to simply edit longer clips of training.

Here is an example. If you decide to watch ALL 5 minutes of it you may be bored silly. In addition you will see alot of my crocs and, while I love my crocs, that wasn't quite the point. Finally you will see a great video of Giz jumping into thin air. LOL I was trying out my new Gorilla-pod tripod for my video camera. I haven't quite figured out where to stand to get the entire session in the frame! It is hard to train and stay in one place as I have found out. I now have an increased appreciation for those who put out good little video clips while training their pups. And I am in awe of those who put out video after video of running contact training PLUS slow motion! My head explodes just thinking about doing that....



This video is slightly better as it was shorter and I was forced to stay in one position by the official upside down elephant-trick bowl.



Really both videos are pretty pitiful.....help!

Agility and training has taken a back seat this past month. We have spent time getting the chickens sorted and "Chicken-topia" is progressing. More chickens are planned as soon as we get a secure top/cover on their run and put up the new improved BIGGER chicken coop. I am so egg-cited about getting different breeds of chickens! So far these two girls (Wilma and Betty) are giving us one egg per day. I am not sure if it is one chicken laying everyday or they are taking turns.



Giz hasn't really done any true "agility" training. I did this little video of him 3 weeks ago and that is about the extent of his training. His cone/champagne bottle training as a puppy seems to have carried over to his wing wraps and I am pleased that he is working for a toy. He doesn't always feel the need to bring the toy back to me but he will happily tug once I catch him up. LOL



I wanted a smaller sheltie from this litter but Giz-mo has taken my request a little too far. He is all of 11" at 5 months old. I am hoping he will grow a little bigger; if he hit 13" I would be thrilled!


Zaz wonders if he is leaving yet?

Dennis and I have taken TWO non-doggy holidays this month. First we were off to Portugal to visit a friend. That was such great fun and I hope she comes to visit us in England also now! It is amazing how dogs can bring people together as I first met Connie when I fell in love with her sable sheltie Teller and wanted to use him to breed to Joy. That combination produced my darling Pax; the sheltie who was my sheltie soul-mate.

Then after being home for a few days we jetted off to Iceland hoping to see the Northern Lights. We had a great time but the Northern Lights were elusive and now we have to try again next year! We are thinking maybe Finland or Norway next year to try again.


My gorgeous Zen is now over 8 1/2 years old and I had to make the decision to spay her. She was obviously not going to have anymore pups and I wanted to spay her while she was still young and healthy. There was still a part of me that felt sad at doing the spay as it felt like the end of a journey for Zen and I. What an amazing girl she has been to have given me four litters of puppies. Thanks Zen-star and I look forward with joy to the next stage of our life together.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the videos, Bernadette! Gizmo is really cute!
I struggled with videos, as well, but found a resource you might try if your computer has Windows Movie Maker. There is a website that has training tutorials for that (and tons of other stuff)that you can join for a monthly fee. You can use it for however long you want and then cancel with no obligation. Its lynda.com I've used their Movie Maker tutorial and its been very helpful.
Enjoy your blog, as always.
Bob Jordan in N.C., USA

Diana said...

LOL, you hope your puppy grows. Im hoping my puppy stops growing. To funny. He is very cute.

Anonymous said...

Hello!

Nice to hear news of you.
Our chicken in the past took turns every chicken every 2-3 day one egg.
It is amazing what tricks Giz mo already can do.
If you want him to grow, you just have to bring him short time to me.
Plants dy but dogs are growing.LOL

Best regards!

Margit

Kaarina said...

Have to agree with Bob, loved the videos and Gizmo is so cute!

I think you can edit your videos also via Youtube, haven't tried myself but should be easy to use.

Thanks for your blog!

/Kaarina, Finland

Mary-Anne said...

Gizmo is adorable! If it makes you feel any better, Raven was about that size at that age and she made it to a whopping 13.5" :).

Serena said...

Bernadette it always brings me such joy whenever you post on your blog! I just loooove your blog. I actually should have posted the true biggest reason why I hate Facebook, lol! it's because I love and miss your blogs! and being so popular you won't have as much time as you used to have with the blog (tears) I should have come out and said this from the start, lol! I adore all the loving details that you put in with training the dogs, the video magic, and seeing all the depth that you discuss in both raising the shelties, the puppies, preparing for agility comps, the whole experience...It's a precious journal to me that Facebook can't touch by a thousand miles! As for Eluane, she is entranced by your voice. It sounds sooo gentle that she loves the sound! and it gets her attention right away! So different from my bossy demanding harsh voice. Poor Eluane! Gizmo has the cutest little cheeks! Everyone has longer markings whereas his are like little apples, sooo adorable, Bernadette! Gizmo will be the Little One Who Can-- think Charlotte's Web, Bernadette! Wilbur was the smallest tiniest piglet that grew up to do amazing things! Just Believe and Make it Happen! Bernadette. Viddies are so magical and everyone looooves watching him! Hurray for Little Gizmo!

And what a brilliant fur babies' photo with Dennis. Beautiful!