Yay's first agility competition and Puppies 2013

My previous litter (the Boyz litter) was in 2011. So now my long planned Zaz litter is born and ta-da....ONE puppy......Geez...I guess the only positive note is that I won't be called a puppy farm. More about Mr. "Storm" in another post. He is gorgeous, happy and healthy and how can I be disappointed in this.

I have been neglectful about documenting Yay's  progress. She is still such a fun "puppy" to train but not really a puppy anymore! She is now 18 months and I entered her in her first competition. I am certainly not rushing Yay but this is more from sheer laziness rather than any planned schedule. I would normally have had her ready long before now but hopefully we will make up lost time during lots of winter training.

Yay and Giz-mo are such a pair. My little Yin-Yang of sheltie cuteness.

 I only entered Yay in a jumping class at Rugby as her running contacts are not finished. Dog walk is just up to full height and she hasn't started her A-frame yet. Funnily enough I worry more about the Aframe than the dog walk; I am stressing about how to start the Aframe as I have had mixed results with the buy-one-get-one free method.

  The video was edited because we stood on the start line for over a minute. I loved the chance to see her deal with the delay and hold her start line as self-control can be difficult for Yay.  It is a busy indoor show and it was great chance for me to see how Yay dealt with distractions. I would guess that most agility rings do not have judges dressed like snowmen, Christmas puddings, tigers and, my own favourite, St. Lucia.  So one run and it was all over too quickly! I knew I enjoyed it because I just wanted to do more! We were eliminated and it was totally my fault. I went into slight panic mode wondering if she could do certain moves (could she do an acute rear cross?  Could she send around a 180 degree jump sequence?). Silly really as I just should have done them as it didn't matter if we won or not but I am only human!

So here she is in all her gorgeous Yay-ness!

Chicken-topia 2013

This post is for another blogger who is thinking of changing her chicken enclosure.  Just for those who worry; my dogs are all doing great! I haven't given up the shelties for the chickens just yet.



Our chickens have just become part of our family. They are just as naughty as my dogs and regularly escape and mix among the shelties.  I have done  many a running dog-walk session with Yay with chickens pecking around under the dog-walk.



The design of chicken-topia has fluidly changed as we add more chickens and learn more about how to keep  them (and us) happy. I am sure there will be more changes as we go on but we are happy with the set up now. It is easy to collect the eggs and to keep clean. The chickens have a very safe enclosure for at night and for when we go away for a day or a night. What I like about this space is that it is fully covered so it does not get so muddy and wet. If we go away the chickens are safe for a day or two as they have access to food, water and can get in and out of their coop.  When we are home they have a larger enclosed area to scratch around, find bugs and make dust baths. Lately the naughty hens are escaping into the main garden.  I don't  mind this but, of course, this is when they are most vulnerable to predators.

This is the entire chicken "paddock" with the secure  enclosure in the back.

This is the chicken enclosure. It is approx. 5m x 3m and houses their plastic coop and plastic nesting boxes. It has both sun and shade and we also planted two shrubs in the corners.

During the day when we are home they have access to this large paddock. We also leave the greenhouse open in the winter so they rummage around in there when it is really wet out.

The interior of their safe run. Everything is plastic as I worry about mites. I wanted to buy one of the fancy plastic coops but they were so expensive! Instead we converted this garden box and it has worked really well. The chickens sleep in the converted garden shed and they lay their eggs in the 3 plastic nesting boxes outside. I need to add another nesting box as they sometimes queue up to get in and start loudly complaining if one chicken takes too long! They are so funny.

 

 

The enclosed run is made with very heavy duty (expensive!) wire. The original chicken wire was not as strong but was dug into the ground, so we left it and added the stronger wire fencing in front of it. The new wire fencing is bent out at the bottom like an apron for about 6 inches. This prevents the fox from digging under it. The fence is very high but to be extra secure we added a roof. Theoretically the enclosed run is 100% fox proof but it is still a worry.

 

 

 

When we did the extension on our house we had a trench dug to bring water and electric out to the chicken paddock. This makes taking care of the chickens so much easier  and gives us lights when checking on the chickens at night.

 

So we do our best for our girls and they reward us with gorgeous eggs and lots of laughs. I still cannot believe how much fun they are even with all the work involved.

Kennel Club International Agility Festival 2013

I have so much to blog about but have been trying to stay off the computer.  Instead of trying to cover everything (European Open, Fionia Cup) I thought I would start with the KC Festival.

The Kennel Club International Agility Festival is the marathon of agility! Almost 20 rings, 2000 plus dogs and 3 days of agility. I have a love/hate relationship with the Festival but I decided to go back this year since it was at a new venue and I had a chance to compete at the Novice Cup with Giz-mo.

The venue this year was much nicer but the walk to the rings was still crazy. Especially for those who had to day park the walk was so far; I would hesitate to go again if I am not camping. I think the only reason I would go again would be to compete with a novice/young dog for the Novice cup. I guess next year will depend on how ready Yay is looking! (yes hard to believe but Yay will be competing next year!)

I enjoyed the show because we had a decent hotel near the venue and had the chance to spend sometime with nice people. We even celebrated Dennis' 50th Birthday!

I had my goals set and focused on the important runs. I wanted to use the graded runs to get Giz-mo his 3 wins necessary to move up to Grade 6 and qualify both Giz and  Zaz for Crufts 2014.  I expected to miss a lot of my runs just due to the fact that the walk to the rings is crazy and I wanted to be focused for the finals (Novice, British Open and Nations Cup).

Well to make a long story short: all goals were met!  Here is the obligatory photo of Giz and Zaz with their Festival wins.

Here are Giz and his litter brother, Fuze, looking darn cute with their medals and rosettes.

Giz-mo had a great KCI. He got his 3 wins necessary to move up to Grade 6, qualified for the Novice Semi final and then won  the semi-final and qualified us for Crufts 2014! Giz is going to Crufts! By the way, is he not just the cutest sheltie boy in the world?

 

 His win was made extra special when I saw the Kennel Club trophy and the engraved plate. This is the memorial trophy that we do not get to keep; it is kept at the Kennel Club offices. The novice cup is becoming a family tradition! In 2005 Giz-mo's mother Zen competed in and won the very first Kennel Club Novice Cup. I was away at a family wedding so she ran for a friend and still won. That's my special girlie Zen; she could run for anyone and still gave it her all.  Later, in 2010 the Novice cup was won by Zen's brother Bailey (OBay Truly Daniel's Dream). Now in 2013 it was won by her son Giz-mo.  I am going to take a moment and be a proud breeder over that!

Giz-mo's novice Cup run. I am really starting to enjoy running this little guy; he is getting stronger and stronger at each competition. It is hard to believe that he has only been competing since April.



Finally my little Zaz-star won the British Open!  She is also following in her momma's pawprints as Zen has won the British Open twice at Crufts. 

Zaz's British Open semi Final run.  I was a bit surprised to win this final and even more surprised to find out that Zaz's times were faster than all heights!



I really enjoyed running Zaz at the KCI; as always, she gave it her all and I felt as if we were one for every run. I cannot feel anything but gratitude for this girl.

So I cannot promise another post but hopefully I will remember what we did in July and be able to get it into a post sometime soon! 

 

PS isn't this a fun app? It took my blog and made it into a word star!

An International Summer

The next two months have a distinct international flavour to them.

We leave  at 3 am on Friday morning for our trip to Denmark. We are off to the week long Fionia Agility Cup in Denmark. I am looking forward to the challenges of the European courses in helping me prepare for the European Open at the end of July.  I will be running Zaz and Giz-mo and bringing Yay along for the trip. It is always a great week of agility with so much to learn. The trip had a little hiccup when we found out a few days ago that our overnight ferry (England to Denmark) was cancelled. It seems they had an accident when docking and the ferry hit the docks at the end of a trip. A  hole in the side of the ship caused the ship to start taking on water! I am very very grateful we were not on that crossing! The ship is still out of service (not that I would have been keen to get on it!) and now we have to do the trip via the Eurotunnel and drive 9 hours from France through Belgium,Netherlands and Germany to Denmark.  A long drive rather than a relaxing overnight cruise but at least we can still get there in time.

Giz is coming on nicely; what a cool dog he is. He will be running in Class 2 in Denmark and I think he will be up for the challenge. When I originally entered the competition back in January he was not even competing yet and did not weave or do full contacts! So sadly I only entered him in the lower classes and did not enter him in the "open" classes which are the classes needed to get into the finals at the end of the week.  Silly on my part! I should have had more faith in my little guy! Even so he has 2 runs per day so hopefully we will make them count! Here is Giz at Lansdown running his last Grade 4 agility class as he moves up to Grade 5 at his next shows.




After our week in Denmark we head  back to England just in time to turn around and go back to Belgium for the European Agilty Open!  Zaz and I will be well and truly European.

I am really looking forward to the European Open. As the World Agility Championships will be in South Africa this  year I had no intention of trying out for the World Team. The European Open was the competition I wanted to focus on . Happily Zaz made the team and we are one of 4 British small dogs competing.  And to make things even more exciting the 2013  European Open will be indoors!  It is taking place at the same venue we competed at for the WAO 2012. How nice to feel relaxed and not to have to worry about the rain, mud or extreme heat!   It is also feels comfortable knowing what to expect at the venue; this takes away much of worry and stress of travel.  The only thing I am not looking forward to is having to travel there on a coach. I would feel much better driving in a car where my dog can relax and I don't have to stress about packing! Unfortunately I don't have a choice in this matter so we will just have to get on with it.  Dennis is not thrilled to be joining me on the coach as he knows all the horror stories of past Team GB coach  trips. The last time we both went on a coach together was about 10 years ago on a trip to Austria. We both swore we would NEVER do a coach trip again....uh-oh.

Anyway the EO should be an amazing competition this year.  Zaz and I are ready!

Zaz won her 8th Championship ticket this month at Thames Agility show. Not a bad  record for a dog that I do not compete with that often!

After the EO we return to England to compete at the KC International Agility Festival.  I didn't go to the Festival last year as I did not enjoy it two years ago. The ground was too rough and the day parking was too far away. This combined with the  death of a well loved competitor during the show and a horrible dog on person attack just  gave me a bad feeling about the venue. This year the show is a new location and I am going to give it another try.  I now have Giz to compete with in the Novice cup and a reservation in a nearby posh  hotel so I am actually looking forward to it! I have heard  that there will actually be American competitors coming this year along with competitors from more European countries. It should should be very exciting!

After all that European Agility it will be time for a non-doggy adventure! Dennis and I will be off to Italy for a holiday. I am really looking forward to that and working hard on my diet so that I can splurge on amazing Italian food and gelato!

So an exciting and busy July and August. We will be finishing up our International summer with a long awaited visit by some friends from New York! 

Old memories!

Now fingers crossed that Zaz holds off coming in season until late September and  then maybe we can add in another European trip for her.....

The only problem with all this travel is that I will miss my chickens!

Giz-mo the dude

Giz-mo has not gotten much attention on the blog but, rest assured, he is still here!  My little dude is just the cutest boy in the world; not that I am biased or anything.

Giz started his agility career in April and won his first class at his first show. I think he will take a little while to mature but that is OK with me.  I do find the girls easier to train and compete with but Giz is so darn cute that anything he does is fine with me! He now has about 5 weekends of competition under his belt and I am enjoying him so much.

Here is Giz in his first ever competition run.



And here he was two weeks later at his second show. Already we are both looking more sure of each other!



My goal for Giz this year is to move up to Grade 5 before the KC International Festival, get into the Novice final and qualify for Crufts. 

Two weeks ago I brought Giz and Zaz over to Jersey (Channel Islands) to compete. I was excited to have 3 days of competitions with Giz to start feeling more like a team with him. Unfortunately I was disappointed to find out that they would only have wood/sand contacts at their show. Giz has really only been trained on rubber contacts so I decided to only compete in the jumping classes rather than confuse him.

Luckily the team and pairs competitions were jumping only. I think Giz will be a great team dog as I can actually control him on the start!   Giz ran clean in both his team runs and in his pairs. His pairing with his brother Fuze came 2nd only to Zaz and her partner Smudge! Unfortunately no video of the pairs just a photo of four gorgeous shelties: Fuze, Smudge, Zaz and Giz-mo.

Giz-mo and I ran for the "Rest of the World" team as there were not enough small/medium English dogs to make up a second England team.  Giz and I were paired with two French competitors. Both girls were worried and kept telling me not to expect anything. I just smiled as they didn't realize how inexperienced Giz really was and how relaxed I am about teams.  Giz surprised me and was a little star who ran fast and clear in both the semi and the final. We were lucky that even with many faults in the semi-final our team scraped through to make it to the final on the last day. Then in the final our team ran 3 clears to WIN the final! Giz has now won his first Jersey Festival Teddy Bear!

The "Rest of The World" small/medium team Final run.



Happy team!

YAY! One year old!

Yay turns 1 year old tomorrow. She is a delight to own and I can honestly say it was worth all the stress bringing her over. These photos were taken last week in Jersey (Channel Islands NOT New Jersey!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While walking on this beautiful beach I had to get some photos of Yay. It wasn't planned....but when I looked at the image on the screen I just smiled....

Here is Yay on the beach in 2013.



And here is Joy on the Beach circa 1995. Just wow....

Just in case you thought Yay's 2 x 2 weave video was special; here is her first attempts at running contacts.   I don't think I should video when  training alone. LOL

Farewell to Monty

Toven The Full Monty

How can I explain who Monty was? He was a dog that belonged to many.

He belonged to Toni Mapes who bred him and loved him and gave him the greatest name: Toven The Full Monty. Right from a pup Monty loved to lie on his back and show the world he was a man.

Monty belonged to me. I saw him as a pup and fell in love with him. When Toni offered him to me to show almost 2 years later I took him home and trained him in agility. He liked doing agility with me but he never loved it. He was a lover of people and the girls and he preferred to flirt and play. Monty almost did not come with me to England; when we realized we were moving I felt that I had to  give him back to Toni. I drove to her house to return him and was just about to walk out the door when we both started crying. I didn't want him to go back and she didn't want me to leave without him!  I gave Toni a hug and put  Monty back in the car and happily planned for him to come with us to England.

 

He was always smiling.

 

 

 

 

Looking at this photo makes me realize how much Giz-mo reminds me of his grandfather Monty.

 

Monty belonged to Johanna who kept him for me when we moved to England; she showed him in breed and won two championship certificates and in agility where he went onto to achieve a Danish agility and jumping championship.

 Monty belonged to all the owners of the girls who bred to him. After Monty produced his first litter here in England it was obvious that he could produce lovely working shelties. He would never be used again in England as the English breeders would not appreciate him. So he went to Denmark to Johanna. Monty spent many years happily siring puppies for some special girls.  Monty was not over used; Johanna was very careful to try and only breed him to bitches owned by people who were carefully checked. This paid off as Monty's offspring were regularly running and winning at top International agility events. I don't even know all the statistics but just at the European open and FCI World Champs he has produced at least one Gold Medal winner, one silver medal winner and two bronze medal winners in his children and one Bronze individual winner in his grandchildren. He has  many agility champion children and grandchildren in multiple countries. 

This photo was taken in Denmark as we wanted a photo of True and Monty with their gorgeous and talented son Unique (EO Gold medal winner OBay Truly Unique).  I have just realized that I have no photo of Monty and daughter Zen together and that has made me cry again....

And finally Monty belonged to Marianne. Marianne borrowed Monty to run in agility and the two of them went on to do amazing things. Marianne brought the best out of Monty; she figured out how to make agility fun for him. More importantly she loved and cherished him during his last years and for that I am so grateful.

 

Monty at the Nordic Championship winning Gold along with his son Unique.

I  hoped to see Monty again when I came to Denmark in July. I had plans to try and get him together with his many children and grandchildren for a special portrait. I also wish I could have been with Monty at the end; I felt as if I owed that to him.  I am grateful to Marianne for calling me and letting me know how the end was for Monty and that he was buried in a special place. I couldn't stop crying when she told me he was buried next to his special friends and that he was buried with his bed and special agility lead and wrapped in a purple blanket.

Thank you Monty for all you did for me. Without you I wouldn't have had Zen, Zaz, Itzy and Giz-mo. Without you I wouldn't have had the opportunity to compete at those amazing International competitions with your daughter Zen and your Grand-daughter Zaz. You were just a little black dog with an amazing heart and we all loved you and will miss you.



How do you summarize 10 years of Zen?

Zen turned 10 yesterday. I wanted to do some incredible video montage or put photos to music or do a big party or just do something to explain how amazing this little dog has been for the past 10 years.....Instead we just spent the day out in the sunshine, doing a little agility and randomly hugging Zen for no reason.  Priceless.

Zen at 10 years old

 

 

 

Zen at 8 years old

 

Zen at 2 years old

 

 

Zen at 6 months old

 

Zen at 5 weeks old

 

10 years ago an TRULY amazing litter was born. Not many people know or understand the determination it took to produce this litter. Many people in many countries shared in all the planning, frustration, tears and then finally smiles, hopes and dreams.... It paid off and produced 6 amazing pups.  Happy 10th  Birthday to Zen, Unique, Chi, Bailey and Timmy. And special thoughts for  Lucky, gone but never forgotten.

 

 

 

 



Yay 2 x 2 weave experiment

I have been doing agility for nearly 17 years and I finally got around to trying  to teach weaves using the 2 x 2 method. You can't say I rush into things!

It was fun trying this method with Yay. I  decided to give it a try it because the weather had been so awful and I didn't want to take her into the wet training paddock to do a lot of running.  I decided that I could just set up some stick in the ground poles right outside my backdoor and step out for  few minutes each day.  The first few  days were very frustrating; when I went from 2 poles to 4 poles I thought she would never get the idea and I was frankly about to give up. So we took a 2 day break and when I brought her back the next time it just seemed to click and the progression from 2 sets of 2 poles to 6 straight up went really quickly.

After about a week of training with the stick in the ground poles, I was lucky to have been able to borrow a set of three 2 x 2 poles. This helped progress her even more smoothly as those poles were easier to slightly tweak if necessary. When it came time to adding more than 6 poles I had to go back to adding my stick in the ground poles but she seems to cope fine.

This video was taken when she was at 8 poles. Not so easy videoing and trying to get your 10 month old pup to weave. HA! So  the video quality isn't professional and my  rewarding could be better but you get the idea.



I have been amazed at how quickly she learned to weave straight up poles and she has some wicked  entries learned already.  I am not sure I love her foot work through the poles or her little jump at the last pole but that could be the result of my rewarding incorrectly. We started her with a thrown toy while the poles were open but went to thrown food as we progressed.

Yay can now do 12 poles straight  up and I will honestly say the amount of time spent on the weaves has been 1/3 of the time I would normally need to teach poles. She has not done many repetitions and I know she will need more work on things like cross behinds and my running past as most of the repetitions have been done with my standing still.  I will go back and review the 2 x 2 DVD and see where I might have skipped steps and start adding a  jump before the weaves as my next step.

I am so happy that Yay loves the game of agility already; she is great fun. I  think we are both ready  to begin the next stage of training: Running Contacts!  Fondly known as "self-imposed manic depression" and I can't wait to start!

Bartering for Agility training?

Bartering for Agility training?


I had a little hiatus from  running agility last year but am excited to get back to competition this year. I have been thinking about the new trends here in the UK and the USA. More "European" handling seems to be all the rage. I love new things but it takes me time to let it all sink in. I am basically happy with how my dogs run and our successes but there is always room for improvement without losing what I already know.

Anyway.....one of the things I keep in mind about agility is that it is NOT rocket science. It is a little bit of fun that we have with our dogs.  I  try not to take it too seriously while at the same time remain competitive. Does that make sense?  I love to talk agility, talk training and get together with people who love to do the same. I love to delve into why things happen and why some training/handling works for one dog and not another.  This is the same reason why I love reading the blogs of trainers from other countries. Especially the trainers who break things down and speak of their highs and lows rather than just write a blog to "sell" something. I have learned so much over the years for free by doing this! Yes free agility information!

I was thinking of about all that yesterday on the ride home from Giz-mo's first agility show. Having two young dogs now gets me  back into training mode and I love that.  So I was thinking about all the trainers in Europe and the US that I would love to train with but cannot afford.....

So I would offer this proposal to any trainers who would like to come to England to either run agility or just to sightsee in our beautiful country. I have a lovely home in the beautiful English countryside with spare bedrooms that is dog friendly. We are only a 1 hour train ride to London. I have an outdoor agility paddock for training right outside my door. If you ever want to come over for some fun in England I would be glad to help you out with organizing your agility trip and give you a room for free in return for a 1/2 day of training a small group. I cannot offer big US or European training fees but could possibly organize another small training day to help your expenses. I am not looking  for the "top" trainers that want/need to charge $$$$ but just looking for those who love agility and enjoy sharing their knowledge. Maybe you regularly read my blog and have even watched my videos and learned something yourself. Or maybe you have watched my videos and thought "oh I could  help her!"  Of course,  if someone who charges $$$$ wants to come I would love to have you! LOL

The Kennel Club International Festival is in August and is still open for entering. Crufts is in March and we have agility shows all summer.

So this is just an idea. Contact me if it sounds interesting to you! obayshelties@hotmail.com

Meet YAY!

With a little help from alot of friends a little ball of sable fluff joined us last September.

Meet YAY!  Officially known as" Damask Jump for Joy at Obay".



It was a long journey on the search for this puppy. I had a few breedings of my own  that failed to produce or just produced boys. Then I had the possibilities of a puppy from other breeders that just didn't happen: either through not getting pregnant or just producing larger pups. It seemed like I was never going to find my little girl! I had my heart set on a sable girl but honestly would have taken any colour by that point!

Then I heard of a breeding to a dog that I have admired for nearly 8 years after meeting him as a young dog at a Clean Run camp in 2005. I loved this boy so much that I had plans to breed Hex to him. I had visualized that breeding as crossing two of the most perfect shelties. Sadly that never happened but I kept in touch with his owner (an old friend) just in case he was used at stud with a nice bitch.

So I contacted the breeder in Kansas and happily found myself on the list for a puppy. I was happy that the breeder had similar ideas on breeding and she knew I was looking for a smaller girl. The pups were born and I was feeling optimistic as there were two girls. Then tragedy struck and one of the girl pups died at only a few days old. So sad for everyone and I just assumed I was not getting a pup again... Then my luck finally turned when the breeder offered me the one remaining girl. I was so excited and began to plan the difficult process of importing a puppy into England. It is hard to believe but this would be my first puppy bought from another breeder in over 20 years! I had gotten used to breeding my own pups and knowing my own lines. It took a leap of faith for me to let go of the worry that not only was I not raising the litter but also I would not be getting the puppy until it was nearly 4 months old due to import restrictions into the UK.

How could I not love this puppy?

I flew from England to New York to  Kansas to pick up Yay when she was 8 weeks old. She then flew  back with me to New York where I spent a week with her. I hoped that this week would help to bond us together and allow me to start some puppy training.

 

Yay never left my side for that week. I was amazed at how  fast she learned tricks and so pleased with her tugging and play. She was the perfect puppy!  I cried when I left her a week later....

 

Luckily my lovely sister agreed to keep Yay  for the 6 weeks it would take to get her rabies injection and then wait the required time to do the paperwork necessary to import her into the UK. Not only did she take care of her but she also continued her training and socializing. I had a list of things for her to do with Yay and would speak to her every week asking if Yay was still playing and tugging. How annoying I must have been!

 

Yay had other helpers in New York. Friends and family who helped train her, let her out during the day when my sister was working, leash walk her and even friends who helped train those sheltie ears! How luck am I to have such friends and family? It  takes a village to raise a puppy!

 

 

 It seemed like forever until I returned back to New York to pick up 15 week old Yay to bring her home to England. Of course things wouldn't be as simple as just flying into England; that would be too easy!  The only way you can fly into England is to have the puppy in cargo and I wasn't prepared to do that with my puppy. I wanted little Yay at my side the entire trip.

So this required a flight from New York to  Brussels followed by a car ride through Belgium  and  France to get to the Eurotunnel.  Dennis drove from England to Brussels to meet us and on the same day turned around and drove us all back home. Another epic trip!  What a fantastic husband I have!

Dennis was going to take a photo of me and Yay after we passed through the Eurotunnel Pets Passport office. This never happened because after this amazing long journey and the worry of all the paperwork I burst into  tears as soon as we  walked out of the Pets Passport office! The relief of knowing that Yay was finally  mine was overwhelming.

I don't know what the universe has planned for Yay and I. I just know that I absolutely adore her and look forward to our journey together. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a puppy so much. She fits into our family perfectly and I see her and Giz-mo as my Yin-Yang. (or sometimes just as double-trouble!)

 

Yay is so meant to be mine. When I first found out about her it was because I loved her sire. Then I found out the most incredible thing....Yay's mom was related to Zen and Hex through their mom True.  Yay's great great grandmother was also Zen's grandmother!  Now Yay was able to bring me back to the fantastic genes of our gorgeous True.

And finally her name: Damask Jump for Joy at OBay is because she reminds me so much of my very special dog of a lifetime: Joy.

Yay!

 

 

Yay is now almost 11  months old. Agility training has begun and we are loving it!