Happy 8th Birthday Monty!

Happy 8th Birthday to

Danish Agility Champion Toven The Full Monty

"Monty"

Little Monty might not be known for his own performances. But he is well known for what he has produced. In limited breedings he has produced 2 agility champions and two Agility World Team members. All his puppies have an intense desire to work and an amazing drive to run fast!

Yet Monty himself has not done too badly! Monty has been shuffled around a bit. Initially owned by Toni Mapes as a potential show dog, Monty was just not "enough" for the show ring. He is a little boy under 14" at the shoulder. I had seen Monty and just fell for him and Toni let me take him home when he was just under 18 months old. I started playing around with him in agility and he took to it very nicely. Then the big move to England happened. At first I thought Toni wanted him back as she wanted to be able to use him for breeding. So I brought Monty back to her and just before leaving him, I burst into tears. I didn't want to let him go! Poor Toni, she thought I didn't want to take him to England and I thought SHE didn't want me to take him. What a lack of communication! I blame it on the stress of moving!

So that day, Monty came back home with me and began his amazing journey. I am so grateful for Monty as he produced my amazing girl Zen. I cannot imagine my life without her; she has given me so much love and so much fun.

Monty now lives in Denmark with Johanna. He is quite the international boy! In Denmark, he has two certificates towards his breed championship and has finished his Agility Championship. Even better, he is being used for breeding with some really beautiful girls. He is producing some pretty puppies that can work. We decided that Monty was better used and had more opportunities in Denmark. Although Dennis and I miss him, I have decided to stick to girls only from now on.

For the past year or so, Monty has been running agility with Johanna's friend Marianne. What started as a little fun has turned serious!!! Monty was part of the gold winning Danish teams when he competed with Marianne at the Nordic Agility Championships! At 8 years old, I think Monty as found his favorite agility partner in Marianne! They are just going from strength to strength. Go Monty, you rock little man!

Below you will see why Monty was named "The Full Monty". His favorite position is on his back with his legs spread! That's my boy!

Weekend stuff: training, trials and sewing needles

This past weekend was a busy one. On Saturday we went to a training day at Sue's sand school. It was taught by Nancy who also owns little Kizzy. It was a great session and everyone seemed to enjoy it. What I liked about Nancy's teaching was that it wasn't all about "handling", she was into training the dog. But then again, that is my strong point so that may be why I liked it! haha I like to try and teach the dog to do most of the work, I guess in some posh agility circles that makes me a lazy handler!

Nancy talked alot about teaching the dog to collect itself before turns and gave some good methods to work on this. I have been lucky with Zen and Hex as this is a strong point for them; their weakness being that they have a harder time going on ahead. I guess after running Pax, who turns like a Mack truck, I worked extra hard on our turns. Or, maybe, they are more natural at tight turns than Pax.

Anyhoo, everyone seemed to enjoy the training day. I even heard some comments that people were saying it was one of the more informative sessions they had been on. That will be really cool for Nancy to hear. I will go to most training session at Sues that I can get to. It is so close to home and it is just good practice for Hex and Zen. And Sue makes a good lunch! But, in reality, so many training days are not that informative, they are more like run-thrus. Because really how much can a trainer teach you in 3 hours with 9 people to train. Also, due to the large number of participants you sometimes don't get much done, it is alot of standing around and bull-shitting with other participants. But I did think Nancy's was well worth it and I am not just saying that because she reads my blog!

Here are some photos from the day. These are not the best photos, I actually have some really good ones that Dennis is working on enhancing with his new prowess in Photo Shop. I will hope to post them on another day and also offer them to their owners. These photos below are funny ones or interesting training ones!

Here is Sue's older BC Buddy more affectionately known as Buddy the Bast***. You can see why..

This is George the Golden. He is a young boy and is doing well in training. But you can see clearly that he was some rythym issues in the weave poles! What a trooper that he stays in the weaves when obviously he has to work so hard at it. Bless!

This is a young Vizsla named Boris. I thought this shot was funny as it looks like his ears are tied up in a bow!

This is a young BC cross poodle (yes, for my american friends reading this, they do these crosses on purpose! ) named Chip. They make lovely shaggy fast agililty dogs! As you can see in this photo of him weaving.

The funny thing is that at the training day we worked on a few things that I actually used at the show on Sunday! I like when that happens! Once I get the videos from the Chippenham Agility Show uploaded I will post them along with our good news.

Now after the long day at Sues, we went out for dinner with our neighbors. It was a dinner planned to thank one of our neighbors for helping us set up our wireless Internet. It was 4 couples for dinner at a local pub. The dinner was scheduled for last month, but had to be cancelled due to everyone having the flu! Unfortunately, it was rescheduled for this weekend and we didn't find out about it until 3 days before! Uh-oh! It wasn't the best time for me to be socializing having been out all day training and then thinking of getting up the next morning at 4:30 am for the drive to Chippenham Champ show. But the dinner was good and it was good to meet the 2 couples that we hadn't met before. At least if I see them in Sainsburys' I will recognize them now! They live on the other side of the field from us and I can occasionally hear their horses and donkey, so I am sure they can hear my dogs! It is quite a long distance but the sound travels because the field is so open.

We had to leave the dinner early (well early for English people!) and said our good-byes at around 11pm. When we got home I was getting ready for bed when Hex comes into the room with me. She is rolling something around in her mouth and I can hear clinking noises against her teeth. Usually this means she was picked up a pebble and is rolling it around in her mouth. I glance at her and see a glint of metal in her mouth and realize it is a sewing needle! I scream for Dennis and grab Hex's muzzle to open it up. At that point I think the needle is already headed down her throat. Dennis comes and I have him pry open her mouth while I look in (not an easy prospect when dealing with the wicked one!). I am able to feel the tip of the needle in the back of her throat and somehow get a hold of this slippery little thing. Which, it turns out, is also attached to a long piece of thread. Holy sh**! I give Hex the biggest hug and know that we really we lucky with this one. If she had not come in and shown me, she would have swallowed it and we wouldn't have known until she showed some sort of symptoms. And even then, who would think "Oh it must be a swallowed sewing needle and thread" Yikes, it is too awful to think about.

Sunday was the long awaited for Chippenham small/medium Champ show. Unfortunately, Zen did not win the champs.. boo hoo. But more about that another time. Hex was a star but I will blog more about that in another post! This post is too long already....

The saddest news

It has taken me a few weeks to be able to sit down and write this. And it still kills me to put it into words. Somehow it makes it all too real....

Sadly it was found that Zeus,the little boy of Zen's litter, was ill. It turns out that his heart did not develop properly and it was struggling to keep up as he started to grow. The specialist vets advised his family that nothing could be done to help him; no surgery or medication would help. So his owners decided not to let him suffer and he was let go before his symptoms became worse.

It doesn't seem right that Zeus should be gone. He was such a bright little boy, so happy and willing. He was so beautiful and so reminiscent of his grandfather Monty. We had such high hopes for him. But most of all, he was loved. For his entire short life, he only felt love. For that I am grateful.

All our sympathies go out to Gert and Kirsten who adored little Zeus and had to make the devastating decision to let him go. They adored little Zeus and gave him the most perfect home and we know they miss him terribly.

The joys of breeding, huh? Yeah right.

Hex at C-side 2007 Video

Hex at C-side

This past Saturday Hex finally earned her keep. We ran at the C-side show in the Crystal Challenge Final and won! Hex had qualified for the final back in November.

She won a gorgeous crystal trophy (her first!) and even better, she won CASH (50 pounds!). I think this may be my first time winning money in agility!

Thanks to Lian for the video clip. We can't get fancy with music as it was in a different format, but you get to hear all the dogs barking in the background. So turn down your volume!

Never take yourself too seriously!

This is too funny and a reason I shouldn't be left to surf the internet for too long....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC76cgkrmL4

Zen's Crufts Championship Agility video

Crufts 2007 Agility Championships

Well Crufts 2007 is over! We had a great Crufts!

Winning the medium team on Thursday was great. I do love to run at Crufts! It is a great buzz competing with all the spectators cheering.

This morning we ran the Championship Jumping. A lovely course that we should have run clear. But a handling mistake by me caused an off-course and an elimination. Bummer! But I was still proud of Zen and how she handled the course.

This afternoon was Championship Agility. (video to follow!) Zen attacked the course with her usual enthusiasm and we won the class! Her time was the second fastest time out of all height dogs and I was thrilled. Luckily this year they actually had a presentation of trophies and ribbons for the placements in the qualifiers. So Zen got to take center stage and receive a lovely crystal bowl engraved with

"WINNER CRUFTS 2007 CHAMPIONSHIP AGILITY"

That's my girl!

I was disappointed not to be able to run in the finals on Sunday night but overall had a great Crufts 2007 and already looking forward to 2008!

Crufts 2007 Medium Team Agility video

Crufts Medium Team 2007

I am just downloading the videos from yesterday's medium team event at Crufts. What a blast! It is just so much fun being out there on the green carpet with all the spectators. I just love showing off my dog. Zen is the best, I was so proud of her. She looks so little next to the other dogs. But she still does her best and makes me look good! She seemed more relaxed this year and that makes me feel better.

And, Wow, what a fabulous team I was on. Disney was the boy amoung the pretty girls and he did wonderful. As usual, those merlie border collie girls were fantastic. I can hope that our runs on Sunday in the championships go as well as yesterday! The carpet was a bit slippy, so I hope the judges keeps that in mind when the courses are built. Other than that, the new arena is great. Even though it is off on it's own at the end of the buildings, the spectators were still there. It seemed almost full each time and it holds 6000 people!

Dennis again went above and beyond in his videoing. He put together the video of all 4 runs to Toni's favorite song for Minx. I will try and get it downloaded soon.

Videos and stuff

As you will see on the last few posts, Dennis is getting good at putting videos together! There is no stopping him now. Now I just have to remember to bring my video camera everwhere!

It was so great to see Hex's video compilation. She reminds me so much of Joy, just in a black package! I really miss Joy and am grateful that I have Hex to make me smile. Whatever I ask Hex to do, she is eager to do it; what a fun dog she is. She has dabbled in breed, obedience, flyball and Heelwork to Music. But agility is our main event and she is really coming together in that. I was unsure how she would compare against some of the faster dogs in competition here; but she seems to be doing OK. On Saturday, she finished 2nd out of 115 dogs in jumping and 3rd out of 80 dogs in agility.

We had a really good day of agility at the Mid Downs competition on Saturday. It was the first real agility show of the season for us down South. Zen competed in her first KC show since having puppies. She is definitely on form and ready to run at Crufts. We are competing on Thursday in a team event and on Sunday at the Championships. I can't wait, I am so psyched! (All the Jane Savoie fans will recognize that statement, but it is really true!) Agility at Crufts this year will be bigger than ever. They have moved ALL the agility events into a larger arena that seats 6000 people. Considering how crowded it has been all the other years, I think there will be that many spectators for agility everyday. I just hope the noise level is not over the top and that Zen can hear her commands. I want to make it thru to the final on Sunday night and get a chance to have Zen on TV again. That would just be fantastic.

This will be my 6th year competing at Crufts. The first year (2002) I showed Whizz the border collie in breed. The second year (2003) I showed True the sheltie in breed. Then Pax competed in agility in 2004 and 2005. Now it is Zen who competed in agility in 2006 and this year 2007. Next year, I want to be qualified to show Hob-b in breed and Hex and Zen in agility. Goals!

A Hex Video Montage

Hex 3rd place out of 80 dogs!

14 week old Oz at Mary's training night

Hex training day videos-she is too cute!

Agility....getting the training edge..Johanna's Way

Johanna just keeps developing cutting edge agility training techniques. She is known internationally for her innovative training and cannot keep up with requests for seminars.

Now we see why.....

Oh... poor Spooky! Those Danish people are crazy.

Snow in Denmark

Johanna sent these photos today. I guess the snow is better than the mud we have! But it puts a damper on agility training. Well it would for normal people.....

Johanna likes to worry me with crazy talk about teaching One a running Aframe. (crazy blasphemous talk!) This must be her patented technique. Now we all know! How is she going to charge loads of money for seminars, DVDs and books if she keeps giving all her secrets away?

Tough days but getting better

It has been a sad few days realizing that Joy is gone forever. Each day it gets easier and it helps to remember all the good days we had with her. She had such a full life and gave me so much happiness. I will never forget all our trips to Bermuda, our trips to Canada or even just our trips upstate New York to run around together trying to learn how to herd sheep. Joy must have travelled more than most people! I think she had taken around 10 or more plane flights in her life.



I have been so blessed by having so many good friends to help me thru this. For many people, when they lose a pet, their grieving is brushed off by well-intentioned people. It is "just" a dog or you can get another ect ect. Or even if they are sympathetic, they cannot understand just how deep the loss is. When you work and train a dog, they become your friend, your team-mate, your family. The connection is so deep; you just understand each other. I always felt that I could read Joy's mind and she could definitely read mine.



Thank you to all my friends and family who have reached out to us.

• Dennis who sat down for hours and put together the slide show of Joy's photos. I don't know how he did it thru all his tears.


• Lisa and Tony who got us out over the weekend on nice long walks to the pub with the dogs. Keeping us from sitting around the house being sad.


• Diane G. and Ann H. who somehow knew in advance that I needed a boost. And sent me a goodie bag from Rhode Island which made me laugh on a really tough day. I don't know how Diane and I (who only see each other once every few years!) can be so in touch in an almost psychic way.


• My "new" friends, Andy and Nancy and Lian who touchingly sent us flowers to cheer us up. That was so sweet and meant alot.


• My "old" friend Eleanor who is donating a trophy at the ASSA sheltie national in memory of Joy. You are just so thoughtful.


• All my friends who have called or just written an email to sympathise and to share a memory they had of Joy. That means so much.

The dynamics of the dogs in the household has changed a little. They all seem a bit on edge and clingy. I wonder what they know and what they are feeling? Is it just a shift in the pack dynamics or is it something deeper? Or is that just me putting my feelings on them? Pax has never been apart from her mom, Joy since she was born. Yet, she seems to be the least effected. Was it is because we let her be in the room with Joy at the end?

We must have a million photos of Joy. She was so photogenic and just seemed to pose for hours. Most of them are "real" photos ( from the days before digital) and most are back in New York. I look forward to being able to go thru those photos on my next trip home to New York.

This photo was Joy on her 10th birthday. It is my most favorite photo of her in England.

Joy

OBay Joy to the World

4 May 1992 - 16 Feb 2007

We had to say Goodbye to Joy last night. It has been one of the hardest things I ever had to do. Joy has been with me for almost 15 years. Right from the time she was born into my hands, she has never been far from my side. She was a dog in a million, always eager and always fun. She was the dog of my heart.

Yesterday, I laid her out on the deck in the sun and she fell asleep there. She still looked beautiful. But I knew it was time to let her go, she was in so much pain. Thankfully the vet came to the house and Joy was able to leave us peacefully with both Dennis and I holding her. Her daughter Pax was also there with us.

All her obedience, breed, herding and agility titles mean nothing compared to the love she gave us. She was so beautiful and so smart. All my dogs forever will be compared to her.

Goodbye little Joy.

Goodbye to Joy

Joy Update and Fat Boy is in his new home

It has been a tough few days (and long nights). Joy has been quite ill and we really thought we were going to lose her. Somehow it is worse when you are dealing with a dog so full of life as Joy is. To see her lying flat out and unresponsive is so scary. Thanks to everyone who has called or written to see how Joy is doing.

She began with vomitting and diarrhea late monday afternoon. By Monday night she got worse aand quickly became very lethargic and disoriented. I lay on the floor with her all night on Monday and we took her to the vet on Tuesday. The vet wanted to keep her at the clinic, but we refused. They thought she was in liver failure and the prognosis was not good. The last thing I wanted was for her to die in the vet's office alone. So after some injections (antibiotic, anti-vomiting and something to bring her fever down) we took her home. She was still very poorly all Tuesday and Tuesday night. Dennis stayed downstairs with her most of Tuesday night.

This morning she actually looked a little brighter. Instead of lying on her side with her head down, she was lying on her stomach and able to hold her head up. We took her to the vet again today and they repeated the injections and also added some sub-cutaneous fluids to help boost her up. She cannot seem to keep any fluids down; when I syringe water into her mouth, she vomits it up within 5 minutes. Now the vet thinks that maybe she ate something that triggered this event. That could be likely as Joy was in the back garden for quite awhile and she will eat anything.

Anyway, that is where we are at now. Joy will be 15 in May but she has never seemed old. I am certainly not ready for her to go yet and I don't think she is ready to leave us. We will try all we can to keep her around, but know that we will not let her suffer if this goes on. Please pray that she comes out of this and we don't need to make any tough decisions.

Here is a photo of Joy taken in August at the KC International Agility Festival. As you can see in the background, Joy was "the face" of all the signs and posters at this show!

Now onto the happier news! Fat Boy (now and forever to be known as Todd!) was due to go into his new home tomorrow. But I asked Karen to come and get him today as Joy is taking all our energy. Poor Todd has not gotten much attention these past two days. He is so energetic and when we would take him out, he would do laps around the living room! He needed to go where he could get more attention.

It is both a sad and happy day when a puppy leaves. Todd was such an easy puppy (other than his birth which made him my most expensive puppy!) so it was especially sad to see him go. But singleton puppies are like that. You give all your attention to just one puppy, so you get very attached to them.

Todd has gone into a great home with a few border collies and one little poodle. Karen, his new owner, mostly does agility. Luckily, she also works from home where she helps run a dog supply company (www.doggiesolutions.co.uk) so Todd will get loads of attention. We look forward to watching Todd grow up and hopefully he will make Karen very happy!

I forgot to take a photo of Karen and Todd together (maybe Karen will send me one?) but did get new photos of Todd before he left. He shows alot of potential in many ways. He is a beautiful boy, very bright and bold. I cannot wait to repeat this breeding next year and maybe get a sable girl for myself!

Fat Boy at 8 weeks

It has been a tough night as Joy has been ill. I was up with her all night; it is so hard to see her like that. We have an appointment with the vet this afternoon. I do not want them keeping her there, as at her age she deserves to be at home until the end. I am hoping they can make her comfortable so we can bring her home.

In order not to sit staring at Joy all day, I went outside and I tried to get some photos of Hob-b and Fat Boy together. It is Fat Boy's 8 week birthday today. He is due to go into his new home on Thursday.

Surfer Todd (aka Fat Boy)

Yesterday we went to see Mary Ray do one of her dog training Cabaret Nights in Worthing. The highlight for me was seeing Mary work with Zen's puppy Oz. (previously known as Pickle!) Mary has such a way with the dogs, she makes it look easy.

Anyway, I will take more about Mary and Oz, hopefully with some videos, in a day or two. But I was inspired to go home and work with Fat Boy (who will soon be known as Todd or "OBay One Helluva Charmer") Fat Boy is now 7 1/2 weeks old and I hope you enjoy his first music video!

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

Sheltie Snow Day 2007

We woke up to snow this morning. Not a over-the- top New York type snow storm but a polite English snow storm! The dogs enjoyed it and it was nice that they could run around without getting muddy! These photos are not the greatest but give a general idea of the fun they all had. I stayed inside while taking the photos!

Joy will be 15 years old in 3 months. She is still gorgeous.

Since she used to live in Idaho I think Hob-b is the most used to snow!

I love how they take the obstacles as they are running. I missed so many shots of Zen, Hex and Hob-b leaping over snow covered jumps. I wish I was a better photographer.

The snow will probably be melted by this afternoon. Good things as we have lots to do today. We have a nice agility girl coming to be bred to Timmy this weekend. Fingers crossed as this will be the first breeding for the both of them. Hopefully we will have good news in a few weeks.

This evening I am going to see Mary Ray at one of her Doggie Cabaret Nights. She does demos with her dogs and discusses dog training in general. It is a really fun night. She has started to use little Oz as a demonstration dog and at only 14 weeks old he is already wowing the audiences! This will be the first time I have seen him since he left at 8 weeks old. Gosh how I miss those little black hooligans.

This is too funny when put to music

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Fat Boy Updates

Fat Boy turned 7 weeks old today. He weighs 4 lbs 2 ounces which is a nice safe weight for his age. I think that he will neither be too small or too big... but just right!

Yesterday he took a car ride with me down to Suzuki get my car timing belt replaced and a full service and oil change. While the car was being worked on we went to visit with Sonia and Bob and their shelties. Fat Boy made himself at home and charged around the house playing with all the dog toys. He seemed very comfortable there and even Sam (who doesn't like puppies) tolerated him. FatBoy is very respectful about adult dogs.....it must have something to do with being raised with Joy, Pax and Hex the evil bitches! Those three don't put up with any puppy foolishness!

Today we had big plans to go into our local town of Billingshurst and walk around. These plans were ruined when my NEWLY SERVICED car started to act up only 1 mile from home. The car made some funny noises, seemed to run sluggish and then the smell of burning filled the car! A little scarey so I pulled over and called Dennis. I made a call to Suzuki to get my car picked up (which they may or may not pay as they say it may not be related to their servicing. ARGHHH Yeah right!!) and then Dennis picked me and Fat boy up on the road. After we drove Dennis back to work, Fat boy and I took his car to our local Tescos. There I walked Fat Boy up and down and let him watch the world go by. They are doing some building work next to Tesco, so there was lots of noise for him to hear. He watched (and chased) the shopping trollies and said Hello to some people. We played little games with bits of paper flying by and then a little game of tuggy with his rope bone.

Tonight we went over to Lisa and Tonys to do the first part of the Puppy Temperment test. Fat Boy tested well and I have no concerns about his temperment. Basically the test is just to evaluate how the puppy reacts in a new situation with a person other than their breeder. Fat boy was very social and not fazed by the new place. He has a lovely natural retrieve and does not seem to be sight or sound sensitive at this point.

I thought I would share these cute photos of Fat Boy playing with the umbrella (part of the test to see how they react to being startled by an umbrella opening near them). As you can see he was not really bothered by it! Ha ha

Zen at C-side agility show

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Here is the Zenny Zenster at the show today. Thanks to Lian for videoing for us. This is Zen's first run since August due to her maternity leave! She is looking so small with no coat! It was a simple course but she attacked it with her usual Zen style. First place out of 25 medium dogs.

Hex at today's agility show to music!

Photo and video editing at onetruemedia.com

Today we went to an unaffiliated (non-kennel club) agility show. I am going to try to put some videos on the blog. First starting with little wicked Hex. We are just starting out in her agility career but she is already so much fun to run. I am looking forward to our first season together starting in March. The runs are far from perfect (of course her PERFECT run was her jumpers run which wasn't videoed!) but I was so happy with her attitude and effort.

I was suprised at her hesitation at the bottom of the first dog walk (first run of the day) as she usually is fast to the bottom. But it does show that she needs some proofing. I also misread which way she would turn at the end of the second run but that is both our faults. She ended up in first place in both starters agility and jumping out of 63 small dogs. Not too shabby.

Happy Birthday Terry!

Today is my sister Terry's birthday. (I can't say what birthday it is as she does not take well to being reminded. ) As I don't have any photos of her birthday party today, here is a photo from 2 years ago when she turned 50.....ooops........

Dogs and agility equipment on your birthday. Ahhhhhh what could be better?

Fantastic weather

We are just having the most fabulous weather lately. Warm and no rain and thus less mud! I was actually able to go out and train in the back garden yesterday and today. Zen and I are getting ready for Crufts!! Go Zenny! Not having trained or competed since August, she is doing remarkably well. Zen is always up for it and is such a joy to train.

This weekend, Andy and Nancy brought Kizzy over to meet Fat Boy. Fat Boy thought Kizzy was a little over the top and Kizzy thought Fat Boy was a plush stuffed toy that needed to be poked with her long nose. Ha. Today, Peggy brought Zoe over and Fat Boy was more confident. Zoe is a little smaller than Kizzy and was a bit more gentle. Rather than poking Fat boy, Zoe instead did huge leaps OVER him! After awhile, Fat Boy started running along with Zoe and actually chased her once or twice. Both visits were good for Fat Boy and I could see him starting to figure out what he needed to do.

Here he decides just to let Zoe win....



Zen is not looking her best right now; her coat is just gone. She is in that awful post-puppy shed. She won't be looking her best for Crufts, so she will just have to stun them with her agility brilliance rather than her beauty! But anyway, I had to get some photos of her with her pups.

Here is Zen and Kizzy.

And here is Zen and Zoe.

And of course, here are some more adorable FatBoy photos. He is turning out to be GORGEOUS! But considering how gorgeous Hob-b is, why am I surprised?

Cute Fat Boy Photos

Fat Boy is doing great. He is a cute puppy, real plush and fluffy! His bad habits include always being underfoot and tugging on pants legs! His cute habits include shaking his toys back and forth just like his sire Chi.

Fat Boy getting frisky with the Bumble Ball

Fat Boy goes to Work

Just to prove that Dennis did do some work today! Here Dennis and Neil consult with Fat Boy about a very important project!


Fat Boy spent the morning at work with Dennis. He spent alot of time in accounting running around and playing. I hope some work got done at Spellman today!

As always I love when the pups go to work with Dennis. It is a great opportunity for them to socialize and see new things. The next three weeks will be busy ones for Fat Boy as we take him to experience lots of new places, sights and sounds.

Fat Boys new owner has tentatively picked a call name (subject to change of course!). He may be named "Spell". So any good ideas for registered names? The theme is "hell"! So far we have come up with:

OBay Helluva Spell
OBay Hells Spells
OBay Cast a Helluva Spell

No Internet!

I haven't had a chance to post to the blog lately as our phone lines have been down for over a week! So no phone..no internet! Right now I am borrowing a friends computer to catch up on some emails and thought I would post this photo. Dennis scanned it from a newletter from the dog food company (Burns) that I use to feed all my dogs! Doesn't Zenny look happy?

Fat Boy is doing great. His growth and weight seems to have slowed down a bit! Thank God! His weight is now about 1 lb less than his sire at the same age. And Chi matured at a solid 15 1/2". Although I still think Fat Boy is going to be a chunky medium agility dog, I feel better that he is not going to be a Large agility dog!

I hope to get new photos of Fat Boy on soon, just pray for the phone lines to be connected soon as I am going crazy with no internet!

Fat Boy and his yellow bone video

We are playing around with video. This is our first try and it just a little clip of Fat Boy playing this morning with his yellow bone.

Click here to watch "Fat-Boy-and-his-bone"

Happy 11th Birthday Jordan!

Happy 11th Birthday Jordan!

Jordan turned 11 this weekend. For her birthday suprise, Lisa took her to a massage seminar and she got to be massaged by lots of students! Lucky girl!

She still is the perfect dog. She is never not happy! She is the dog that everyone wants to own; she is happy and friendly and sweet. Her only bad habit is that she always seems to be laying in front of you and we are constantly tripping over her. This has gotten worse since she has gone deaf and doesn't hear us coming. Oh and typical sheltie, she is always hungry. So she makes sure she lets me know, at least one hour in advance, when dinner is due!

I remember the day I met Jordan as if it was yesterday. We were at a Breed show and I was watching shelties. Jordan's breeder asked me if I could show this 6 month old puppy in the puppy class. Jordan had never been on lead before and this was her first show! Hmmmm... Anyway, Jordan won the puppy class and we went on to place in the puppy group. About one year later, I approached her breeder to see if she would lease Jordan to me for a litter. Well instead she gave Jordan to me and I never looked back. Jordan did give me one litter(Halo and Presto) but was spayed after that. Jordan picked up some breed wins and breed points and finished her Masters title in agility. Since then she has been under our feet and we adore her!

Whizz Border Collie of The Year 2006

MY Border Collie Whizz (well she was mine for a little while!) won Border Collie of the Year 2006 in Denmark. This is a photo of her and all her winnings. Isn't she gorgeous! Whizz will be 11 years old in April.

Great quotes

As we get ready for the next agility season, I am trying to find more of these great quotes!

The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind.
— Henry David Thoreau

and my favorite quote specifically about agility:

The real JOY is in the privilege and ability to step to the start line with your dog by your side, not in the crossing of the finish line victorious over others.

- Gail Storm

I want to finish reading my new book by Susan Garrett called "Shaping Success: The education of an Unlikely Champion" but I can't because Johanna stole it from me. (hint hint) I am hoping it will get me more motivated and focused.

Fat Boy is 2 lbs 13 ounces at 4 weeks old today. His growth seems to be slowing slightly but, then again, that may just be wishful thinking!

We took a photo of this gate while out driving around last month. Isn't it gorgeous and unique! What work must have gone into it! Notice the details to go along with the webbed gates including the mailbox with spider legs and the webbing under the lights. And the gargoyles on the columns! Cool.

OBay Highway to Hell

Well Fat Boy has a new possible name. Thanks to Uncle Tony. This is an AC/DC song which is perfect as his grandmom has a name from an AC/DC song called Hells Bells.

Here are the lyrics of the song. I particularly like the part that says "No stop signs..speed limits"!

AC/DCHighway To Hell (1979)
Highway To Hell

Living easy, living free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be
Taking everything in my stride
Don't need reason, don't need rhyme
Ain't nothing I would rather do
Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too
I'm on the highway to hell

No stop signs, speed limit
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Like a wheel, gonna spin it
Nobody's gonna mess me round
Hey Satan, payin' my dues
Playing in a rocking band
Hey Momma, look at me
I'm on my way to the promised land

I'm on the highway to hell(Don't stop me)
And I'm going down, all the way down
I'm on the highway to hell

Fat Boys adventures continue with his first car trip with Dennis to the Bisley Target Shooting Range. He got to play with Uncle Tony and Uncle Tim.

Here he is with Dennis posing by the Bisley Sign. Dennis loves to get in the photos......

Here Fat Boy is with Uncle Tim (who is not really insane, he is just wearing the ear defenders on his head) and Hob-b. Dennis took Hob-b along for company for Fat Boy. The first few times he goes out, he needs her for comfort (and snacks!)

Just for Price (who gave FB this toy) here is a photo with Fat Boy and the duck. I am not quite sure what Fat Boy is doing with this duck. But without being overly graphic....let's just say this Fat Boy is very advanced for his age....